Rocky Mountain National Park Hosts Estes Valley Summer Solstice Bird Count With Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory And Sister Parks In Costa Rica

落基山国家公园携手落基山鸟类观测站及哥斯达黎加姐妹公园，举办埃斯特斯谷夏至鸟类统计活动

News Release Date: September 8, 2015

新闻发布日期：2015年9月8日

Birds have begun their migration south! But before they began their flights to more tropical locations, Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and its partners the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (RMBO) and its sister parks in Costa Rica collaborated to conduct a summer solstice bird count, held on June 20, 2015. Much like the winter solstice bird count, commonly known to many in the United States as the Christmas Bird Count, this effort worked with volunteers to count the numbers of birds and diversity of species within and near RMNP and Estes Park. Different than the winter solstice counting efforts, this event documented the diversity of migratory species at the park while a simultaneous effort took place documenting resident birds in protected areas in the Cordillera de Tilaran area of Costa Rica.

候鸟已开始南迁！在它们飞往热带地区之前，落基山国家公园（RMNP）与合作伙伴落基山鸟类观测站（RMBO）及哥斯达黎加姐妹保护区携手，于2015年6月20日开展了夏至鸟类统计活动。这项与美国广为人知的"圣诞鸟类统计"相呼应的行动，动员志愿者统计了落基山国家公园及埃斯特斯公园周边的鸟类数量与物种多样性。与冬季统计不同，本次特别记录了公园内候鸟种群，同时哥斯达黎加蒂拉兰山脉保护区的科研人员同步开展了留鸟物种调查。

Rocky Mountain National Park is a designated globally important bird area and visitors from around the world 'flock' to the park for the opportunity to see unique birds found in the Southern Rocky Mountains along the Continental Divide. Protected areas in the Cordillera de Tilaran area of Costa Rica also have globally important bird areas and are internationally known for their diversity of birds. Both areas share a common bond with migratory birds that breed in Rocky Mountain National Park and winter in Costa Rica and on June 20, 2015, they hosted a simultaneous summer solstice bird count. This spirit of international cooperation connect migratory birds to important bird areas and assist managers in protecting birds and their habitat for generations to come.

作为全球重要鸟类保护区，落基山国家公园吸引着世界各地的观鸟爱好者前来观赏大陆分水岭南部落基山脉特有的鸟类。哥斯达黎加蒂拉兰山脉保护区同样拥有全球重要的鸟类栖息地，以其丰富的鸟类多样性闻名于世。这两个地区通过候鸟迁徙建立了特殊联系——这些鸟类夏季在落基山国家公园繁殖，冬季则迁徙至哥斯达黎加。2015年6月20日的同步统计，正是这种国际合作精神的体现，将帮助管理者更好地保护候鸟及其栖息地。

Knowing that many birds that breed in Rocky Mountain National Park are migratory and only spend a short period of time here, it is important to learn more about the pathways these birds use. Questions asked by visitors include: What paths do birds that breed in the park actually use during migration and where do they winter? Do they stop over, or winter in other national parks and protected areas?

鉴于许多在落基山国家公园繁殖的鸟类均为候鸟，仅在此短暂停留，了解它们的迁徙路径显得尤为重要。游客们常会提出以下问题：在公园繁殖的鸟类迁徙时究竟走什么路线？它们在哪里过冬？是否会在其他国家公园和保护区停留或过冬？

Specific migratory pathways, stop-over sites, and wintering areas for most North American breeding species have not been documented simply because no available technology for tracking small birds existed until the development of geolocators. Geolocators mounted on the back of small songbirds store times of sunrise and sunset in a data logger and that information can be used to calculate latitude and longitude. Until this technological breakthrough, ornithologists relied on infrequent recaptures of banded birds at scattered banding stations to understand migratory routes.

大多数北美繁殖鸟类的具体迁徙路径、中途停留地点和越冬地区尚未有记录，原因在于过去缺乏追踪小型鸟类的技术。直到地理定位器的出现，这一状况才得以改变。地理定位器安装在小型鸣禽背部，能存储日出日落时间数据，通过这些信息可计算出经纬度。在此技术突破之前，鸟类学家只能依靠在分散的环志站偶尔重新捕获已环志的鸟类来了解迁徙路线。

In 2012, Rocky Mountain National Park and Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory initiated a project to investigate the migration patterns of Swainson's Thrush and Western Tanagers at Rocky Mountain National Park using geolocator technology. The first two years of field work started in 2012, resulting in ten Western Tanagers being captured and outfitted with geolocators, and in 2013, one Swainson's Thrush was captured and outfitted with a geolocater. In 2013, four tagged tanagers returned to territories occupied in 2012, of which two were recaptured and in 2014, the Swainson's Thrush returned and was recaptured. Data from recovered geolocators produced maps showing migration routes, stop-over sites, and wintering areas for both tanagers and the thrush. The Western Tanagers migrated through southeast New Mexico and western Texas as stop-over locations and southern Mexico and portions of Northern Guatemala as wintering areas. The Swainson's Thrush migrated south close to the Continental Divide, passing through Costa Rica, wintered in Venezuela and passed through Costa Rica and then over the Gulf of Mexico coming ashore in Southern Texas during its Northward migration.This information represents the only thoroughly documented migration route for Western Tanagers throughout their range and a rare glimpse into a Swainson's Thrush migration between the Rocky Mountains and South America.

2012年，落基山国家公园与鸟类观测站启动地理定位器研究项目，追踪斯氏夜鸫和西唐纳雀的迁徙模式。首两年野外工作中，10只西唐纳雀和1只斯氏夜鸫被成功安装定位器。2013-2014年间，有4只标记唐纳雀返回原栖息地（其中2只被回收），斯氏夜鸫也成功返回。数据显示：西唐纳雀迁徙途中停歇于新墨西哥州东南部及得克萨斯州西部，在墨西哥南部和危地马拉北部越冬；斯氏夜鸫则沿大陆分水岭南迁，经哥斯达黎加抵达委内瑞拉越冬，北迁时再次途经哥斯达黎加，横跨墨西哥湾在得克萨斯州南部登陆。这些成果首次完整揭示了西唐纳雀的迁徙路线，并为研究落基山至南美洲的斯氏夜鸫迁徙提供了珍贵数据。

The Western Tanagers and the Swainson's Thrush were recaptured within 50 to 100 meters where they were initially caught; fascinating to learn that these birds traveled thousands of miles north and south to return to the exact same location to breed.

令人惊奇的是，被重新捕获的西唐纳雀和斯氏夜鸫返回了距离最初捕获地点50至100米范围内的区域进行繁殖，这些鸟类历经数千英里的南北迁徙后，仍能准确返回同一地点。

In March of 2014, staff from Rocky met with RMBO and Costa Rica park professionals at a meeting hosted by the Santa Elena Cloud Forest in Monteverde Costa Rica. During this meeting, which focused on shared conservation of migratory species, it was agreed to conduct simultaneous bird counts during the summer solstice at Rocky Mountain National Park and winter solstice in Costa Rica to advance our understanding of migratory birds in both locations. Both areas have done Christmas Bird Counts for many years and document that many species of birds, who breed in Rocky Mountain National Park, winter in the central area of Costa Rica. However, no count had ever been done using the same technique to document the birds in their breeding habitat, while they are absent in Costa Rica.

2014年3月，落基山国家公园的工作人员与落基山鸟类观测站及哥斯达黎加公园的专业人士在哥斯达黎加蒙特韦尔德的圣埃莱娜云雾森林举行了一次会议，重点讨论候鸟的共同保护问题。会议期间，各方同意在落基山国家公园的夏至和哥斯达黎加的冬至期间同时进行鸟类统计，以增进对这两个地区候鸟的了解。这两个地区多年来一直在进行圣诞鸟类统计，记录显示许多在落基山国家公园繁殖的鸟类会在哥斯达黎加中部地区越冬。然而，此前从未使用过相同的技术在鸟类离开哥斯达黎加期间对其繁殖栖息地进行统计。

The results of the June 20 bird count documented 109 avian species and 4,221 birds. Of those 109 species, 39 (36 percent) are known to occur in Costa Rica. Additionally, a new species to the park was documented, the Pacific Wren, which was an unexpected find!

6月20日的鸟类统计结果记录了109种鸟类和4,221只个体。 其中，有39种（占36%）在哥斯达黎加也有分布。此外，还意外记录到了公园内的一个新物种——太平洋鹪鹩。

Protected areas in the Cordillera de Tilaran area documented over 200 species in their bird count while they were experiencing a tropical storm with heavy rainfall, and as expected noted that the migratory birds that winter there and summer in RMNP were absent. Of interest, they documented some birds that breed in South America during their summer were in Costa Rica during South America's winter. Costa Rica plays an important role for not only wintering North American birds, but also wintering South American birds. Costa Rica, which is an amazing biological diverse country, has 27 percent of its land mass in protected areas and is critically important for migratory birds in two continents.

与此同时，蒂拉兰山脉保护区在遭遇热带风暴和强降雨的情况下，仍记录到了200多种鸟类。正如预期的那样，在那里越冬、夏季在落基山国家公园繁殖的候鸟并未出现。值得注意的是，保护区还记录到了一些在南美洲夏季繁殖的鸟类，当时南美洲正值冬季。这表明哥斯达黎加不仅对北美候鸟的越冬至关重要，对南美候鸟的越冬也同样重要。哥斯达黎加生物多样性丰富，27%的国土面积被划为保护区，对于两大洲的候鸟来说都至关重要。