MAPS is for the birds in Manuel F. Correllus State Forest

At the heart of our island lies Manuel F. Correllus State Forest (MCSF) and the tremendous diversity of native species in its barrens habitats of oak and pitch pine woodland, scrub oak frost bottoms, and sandplain grassland and heathland. If I were to pick a mascot for these habitats, I would choose the Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), a cheerful, charismatic bird whose "Drink, drink your teaaaaa" song can be heard nearly everywhere you travel along the state forest trails from late April through August. The vast amount of shrub habitat available to towhees in our state forest's barrens, far from the influences of houses and roads, represents some of the best towhee nesting habitat in the Northeast. Prairie warblers, field sparrows, and gray catbirds are close nesting companions to the towhees and add to the symphony of the dawn chorus.

While the Vineyard has an annual Breeding Bird Survey route that helps track the status of bird species breeding on the island, we have no long-term data on the actual productivity (young fledged) of our nesting birds. In contrast, the island's beach-nesting bird programs have decades of data on the number of birds nesting and their breeding success. To address this data deficit for the island, BiodiversityWorks has joined a nationwide bird research program: Monitoring for Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS), developed and managed by the Institute for Bird Populations (IPB), to launch the island's first MAPS station.

A MAPS station differs from a migratory bird banding station in that MAPS banders focus on collecting data on local breeding bird populations and fledglings produced. We won't ignore a migrant or a rarity if we find one! But the locations, timing, and methods of MAPS work are optimized to study nesting birds. At these stations, trained bird banders working under federal and state permits use an array of fine mist nets to capture birds in an 8 hectare area. Each bird captured is banded with a uniquely numbered federal bird band. We record detailed data on their age, sex, breeding and molt status, and wing length and mass. Birds are released unharmed, and the data are shared with IBP and the USGS Bird Banding Lab.

This MAPS station represents a long-term commitment by BiodiversityWorks to the birds of the island. It reflects our allegiance to sound science that can inform conservation efforts. The power of MAPS is that data provide insights into changes in bird populations by documenting the number and physical condition of breeding birds and young birds fledged from multiple MAPS stations in a region. Combined with MAPS stations in Myles Standish State Forest in Plymouth, our data will provide valuable information on shrub-nesting species, many of them known or suspected of being in decline on the East coast. Over time, the Institute for Bird Populations will be able to ask questions about the relationship between population change and weather events or climate change. The longer we operate the station, the more questions we can help address.

The BiodiversityWorks MAPS station was hatched in 2024, when I asked the staff at Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) if they would be open to BiodiversityWorks establishing and operating a MAPS station in MCSF.  The idea was met with enthusiasm, and then with more enthusiasm from the staff at Mass Wildlife, who recognized that this project will address an important knowledge gap. Over the winter and spring, we set about the permitting process. That included an application to start a MAPS station with IPB, working with DCR staff on an application to do research within habitat listed for rare and threatened species, and getting our bird-banding permit updated. A botanical survey of the site needed to wait until plants were growing and identifiable in May, but after that was complete, our permitting moved along. We received our final permit in late June and were then able to begin trimming vegetation to prepare 10 net sites, which was perhaps the most time consuming and exhausting part of the set-up. We had a late start, but we have now operated the station three mornings in July.

We operate the MAPS station one morning in every 10-day period during the nesting season, which in our region ends August 4th. The day we select for netting depends on the weather: no rain or heavy fog, and the wind should be light so as not to blow the nets around. On a MAPS morning, we are up well before dawn, and our team meets at 4:30 a.m. to open nets at sunrise.  Once open, we net for six hours. Two of us are checking nets every 15 to 20 minutes, so we are busy most of that time, with only short breaks for water and and snacks between net checks or processing captured birds.

We are capturing juvenile towhees, catbirds, and chickadees at the station thus far, which tell us these species are having a productive nesting season. We know we have a juvenile recently out of the nest when we see juvenile feathers on the body — more filamentous and fluffy than adult feathers and quite obvious when you have a bird in the hand. Other non-feather characteristics also tell us we have a juvenile bird, such as the color of the inside of the mouth or edges of the gape of the bill. I'll write more about the numbers and species of birds we are capturing in my next post after we finish collecting MAPS data for the season. If you live on Martha's Vineyard and would like to visit us at the MAPS station when we are operating, email LuanneJ@biodiversityworksmv.org.

I'll close with our sincere thanks to the Martha's Vineyard Community Foundation and the George and Doris Daniels Wildlife Trust for the funding that allowed us to open the station this year. We're grateful to the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation staff for their enthusiastic support and their collaboration on the permitting process, and to the staff from MassWildlife and the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program for their thorough review, approval, and encouragement for this important project.