According to Scott Weidensaul, “Most people are surprised to find out that birds migrate after dark – not just nocturnal species like owls, but hundreds of otherwise diurnal, or day-active species like songbirds. In fact the vast majority of migration goes on at night, out of sight and out of mind. One of the oldest techniques for studying nocturnal migration was ‘Moon Watching” and listening hard to identify flight calls. Neither method was extremely satisfactory. Though the lore of indigenous populations showed they had been interested in nocturnal flight calls for generations, it was not until mid-1800 that scientists began to suspect the calls might be important to understanding details of bird migration.   In 1896 the first attempt to quantify nocturnal flight calls of migrating songbirds was published.  By the 1950’s early attempts to record nocturnal flight calls were reported.  The main obstacle to understanding the calls was the necessity to process all recordings manually.  By the late 1960’s scientists were devising ways to process the calls electronically.  By 2012 when Debbie Leick and Kate Stone, avian scientists with the MPG Ranch in Montana became interested, processing data from long recording sessions had become somewhat automated.  To facilitate studies of nocturnal migration, MPG supported the development of Vesper, an open source software application to automate the processing of sound files. Thus “Project Night Flight” (PNF) was developed as part of an ongoing research program.

In late 2015, the project coordinators made plans to involve students from the high school in Florence in this exciting research project. At the time, the project consisted of fewer than 5 acoustic monitoring stations, mostly on the MPG Ranch. Acoustic monitoring stations were installed in 2016 at the high schools in Florence and Darby, and subsequently in Seeley Lake in 2017. Using relatively inexpensive autonomous recording units and open-source software, Florence students were able to remotely monitor, then classify and analyze nocturnal flight calls. During the summer of 2017 the PNF monitoring effort was expanded greatly, shifting the emphasis from student to citizen involvement, with some 21 monitoring stations established on private and public land throughout the Bitterroot Valley. Data obtained, inaccessible through traditional avian monitoring techniques, will inform conservation biologists about long-term population trends in nocturnal passerine migrants. The hope is to establish an array of student/citizen scientists across Montana contributing to this effort. 

In 2017, two Florence students enrolled in a special science research class offered by Vanessa Haflich. Both students decided to pursue projects investigating the influence of various environmental factors on the frequency and abundance of nocturnal flight calls (NFCs). Senior Destini Greer pursued possible relationships between the lunar cycle and NFCs. Junior student Natalie Dulac looked into a possible relationship between smoke from wildfires and NFCs in two communities, Florence and Seeley Lake, both shrouded in smoke from wildfires during the summer of 2017. With the generous assistance of the Bitterroot Audubon Society, they were able to travel recently to present their posters at the annual meeting of the Montana Chapter of the Wildlife Society, the first high school students to ever do that.

Vanessa Haflich teaches earth science, Rocky Mountain ecosystems, and an independent science research class at Florence-Carlton High School. She has an M.S. degree in Science Education from Montana State University. Nine years into her career teaching high school science she continues to enjoy the many rewards of this career path. She is very passionate about her teaching, and considers her greatest accomplishment to be her ability to instill her excitement for science and desire to learn in her students.  

After 4 years teaching in Chicago’s inner city, Craig Kuchel earned BS and MS degrees in wildlife biology from the University of Montana, focusing on his research into the ecology and behavior of Harlequin Ducks in Glacier National Park. Seeing a need for good science teachers he took a job teaching biological sciences at Florence-Carlton High School. During his 38 years there he pursued his passion for learning and teaching science, always attempting to provide an opportunity for his students to learn scientific concepts the way scientists do, through investigation and experimentation. Now retired, he continues to mentor students pursuing genuine scientific research.  

In this presentation, Craig and Vanessa will discuss the importance of understanding songbird migration, the many ways of studying bird migration, and the potential of Project Night Flight to lead to a better understanding of habitats and flight corridors critical to the survival of migratory songbirds.

PLEASE JOIN BITTERROOT AUDUBON SOCIETY MONDAY, MARCH 19^TH 7:00 P.M. FOR THIS EXCITING AND INNOVATIVE PROGRAM WHICH MELDS TOGETHER ON-GOING RESEARCH THAT WILL INCREASE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF SONGBIRD MIGRATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG HIGH SCHOOL SCIENTISTS. IT WILL BE HELD AT THE LEE METCALF NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, LOCATED NORTH OF STEVENSVILLE JUST OFF OF EASTSIDE HIGHWAY ON WILDFOWL LANE. THE PUBLIC IS INVITED. Contact Kay Fulton (360-8664) for more information.