Friday, June 10, 2011

2011 Season

The 2011 Gunnison sage-grouse season at the Waunita lek was a big success! A big thank you to the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Sisk-a-dee, Western State College, and Dr. Pat Magee. And a special thanks to all the volunteers for dedicating their time to educate visitors on the grouse and lek, as well as collecting daily data on the sage grouse and visitors. This was the first year since the site's development in 2004, that every volunteer made it to the lek on each assigned day - we had perfect attendance and monitored all 40 days of the season!

And thanks to all the visitors, both in the parking lot and in the trailor, for being respectful to the site and the birds. 2011 boasted one of the lowest protocol violations made throughout the entire season.

Below is a summary, taken from the 2011 final report, of counts, flush times, and visitors from April 1, 2011 to May 10, 2011.

Waunita Lek: 2011 Daily Summary Statistics

Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday


March 29
Total Birds: 32
Males: 14
Females: 18
Flushed: 0726
Reason: Unknown
People: 11
Cars: 4
March 30
Preseason
No data
March 31
Preseason
No data
April 1
Total Birds: 43
Males: 19
Females: 24
Flushed: 0717
Reason: Unknown
People: 11
Cars: 6
April 2
Total Birds: 45
Males: 27
Females: 18
Flushed: 0632
Reason: metal bang noise
People: 10
Cars: 5
April 3
Total Birds: 33
Males: 19
Females: 14
Flushed: 0650
Reason: Golden eagle
People: 23
Cars: 8
April 4
Total Birds: 33
Males: 19
Females: 14
Flushed: 0640
Reason: Unknown
People: 22
Cars: 4
April 5
Total Birds: 51
Males: 21
Females: 30
Flushed: 0739
Reason: Unknown
People: 4
Cars: 3
April 6
Total Birds: 36
Males: 13
Females: 23
Flushed: 0655
Reason: Unknown
People: 17
Cars: 7
April 7
Total Birds: 20
Males: 12
Females: 8
Flushed: 0635
Reason: Golden eagle
People: 9
Cars:6
April 8
Total Birds: 24
Males: 13
Females: 11
Flushed: 0709
Reason: Coyotes
People: 26
Cars: 6
April 9
Total Birds: 22
Males: 15
Females: 7
Flushed: 0619
Reason: Golden eagle
People: 23
Cars: 10
April 10
Total Birds: 17
Males: 10
Females:7
Flushed: 0619
Reason: Elk and coyote
People: 7
Cars: 3
April 11
Total Birds: 18
Males: 9
Females: 9
Flushed: 0616
Reason: Unknown
People: 16
Cars: 5
April 12
Total Birds: 17
Males: 8
Females: 9
Flushed: 0703
Reason: Coyotes and magpies
People: 27
Cars: 9
April 13
Total Birds: 15
Males: 12
Females: 3
Flushed: 0627
Reason: Golden eagle
People: 21
Cars: 9
April 14
Total Birds: 19
Males: 14
Females: 5
Flushed: 0618
Reason: Unknown
People: 24
Cars: 5
April 15
Total Birds: 17
Males: 12
Females: 5
Flushed: 0652
Reason: Unknown
People: 20
Cars: 4
April 16
Total Birds: 19
Males: 19
Females: 0
Flushed: 0647
Reason: Unknown
People: 24
Cars: 16
April 17
Total Birds: 17
Males: 13
Females: 4
Flushed: 0612
Reason: Golden eagle
People: 29
Cars: 14
April 18
Total Birds: 10
Males: 10
Females: 0
Flushed: 0656
Reason: Golden eagle
People: 31
Cars:7
April 19
Total Birds: 6
Males: 5
Females:1
Flushed: 0555
Reason: Unknown
People: 28
Cars: 8
April 20
Total Birds: 11
Males: 8
Females: 3
Flushed: 0556
Reason: Mallards
People: 19
Cars: 5
April 21
Total Birds: 14
Males: 11
Females: 3
Flushed: 0614
Reason: Weather
People: 28
Cars: 6
April 22
Total Birds: 4
Males: 4
Females: 0
Flushed: 0605
Reason: Unknown
People: 11
Cars: 3
April 23
Total Birds: 8
Males: 6
Females:23
Flushed: 0604
Reason: Unknown
People: 24
Cars: 10
April 24
Total Birds: 4
Males: 4
Females: 0
Flushed: 0548
Reason: Unknown
People: 4
Cars: 3
April 25
Total Birds:6
Males: 6
Females: 0
Flushed: 0601
Reason: Unknown
People: 1
Cars: 1
April 26
Total Birds: 7
Males: 5
Females: 2
Flushed: 0549
Reason: Unknown
People: 1
Cars: 1
April 27
Total Birds: 9
Males: 7
Females: 2
Flushed: 0609
Reason: Unknown
People: 2
Cars: 2
April 28
Total Birds: 23
Males: 18
Females: 5
Flushed: 0606
Reason: Unknown
People: 10
Cars: 4
April 29
Total Birds: 12
Males: 12
Females: 0
Flushed: 0550
Reason: Unknown
People: 13
Cars: 4
April 30
Total Birds: 17
Males: 13
Females: 4
Flushed: 0726
Reason: Unknown
People: 20
Cars: 6
May 1
Total Birds: 14
Males: 13
Females: 1
Flushed: 0650
Reason: Unknown
People: 1
Cars: 1
May 2
Total Birds: 17
Males: 16
Females: 1
Flushed: 0719
Reason: Unknown
People: 3
Cars: 2
May 3
Total Birds: 16
Males: 12
Females: 4
Flushed: 0628
Reason: Unknown
People: 3
Cars: 2
May 4
Total Birds: 15
Males: 12
Females: 3
Flushed: 0708
Reason: Unknown
People: 1
Cars: 1
May 5
Total Birds: 16
Males: 14
Females: 2
Flushed: 0640
Reason: Unknown
People: 5
Cars: 2
May 6
Total Birds: 20
Males: 15
Females: 5
Flushed: 0638
Reason: Geese
People: 4
Cars: 2
May 7
Total Birds: 13
Males: 13
Females: 0
Flushed: 0715
Reason: Unknown
People: 3
Cars: 2
May 8
Total Birds: 18
Males: 16
Females: 2
Flushed: 0656
Reason: Golden eagle
People: 9
Cars: 5
May 9
Total Birds: 19
Males: 16
Females: 3
Flushed: 0548
Reason: Unknown
People: 1
Cars: 1
May 10
Total Birds: 13
Males: 9
Females: 4
Flushed: 0554
Reason: Unknown
People: 1
Cars: 1





If you'd like more information about viewing the Gunnison sage-grouse please visit http://www.siskadee.org/. There, you will find contact information, protocols, and etc. The Siskadee site will be updated further in the fall of 2011.

Rebecca
Waunita Watchable Wildlife Program Coordinator 2011 & 2012