E-Bulletin
Vol. 1, Issue 9
November 2004

En Español

English Archives
Archivos en Español

Spanish eBird: aVerAves online database launches
CONABIO and NABCI-Mexico recently announced the availability of a Spanish version of the electronic bird monitoring tool eBird: aVerAves. You can access the database by clicking here. eBird is a project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the National Audubon Society (NAS), and the American Birding Association. aVerAves is the Spanish version of this program and includes all of Mexico. It was designed by CONABIO in collaboration with the Cornell Lab and the NAS.

aVerAves is a simple tool that can quickly bring together records for all birds observed in any part of Mexico or the rest of North America (Canada and the United States). You can store and retreive information about all of your bird observations, whether it be in your garden, at your favorite birding hotspot, or part of research investigations. You also have access to the entire database to know what other bird watchers are reporting from different places in Mexico and throughout North America. The aVerAves database can be used by bird watchers, scientists, land managers, and conservationists who want to know more about bird distribution and movement patterns throughout the North America. In order to make the database the most effective, however, it needs many users from all over North America, each contributing bird sightings.

CONABIO is asking the Mexican community of ornithologists and bird watchers to use this new tool and to promote it to help get the word out about it as soon as possible. In this way, participants can contribute to the development of aVerAves as a tool to improve the understanding and conservation of bird in Mexico and North America.

SORA: Searchable Ornithological Research Archive
The SORA project is an open access electronic journal archive and is the product of a collaboration between the American Ornithologists Union, the Cooper Ornithological Society, the Association of Field Ornithologists, the Wilson Ornithological Society, and the Universityof New Mexico libraries and IT department. This archive provides access to an extensive ornithological literature of international scope and detailed material documenting the history of ornithology in North America over the last 120 years. The content of the site includes the following titles: The Auk (1884-1999), The Condor (1899-2000), The Journal of Field Ornithology (1930-1999), and Studies in Avian Biology (1978-1999). The North American Bird Bander will also be available in the near future.

New web resource: Flora of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Cochise County, Arizona
An excellent new online resource is available for those interested in the flora of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (SPRNCA). This website shows the results of a study of the flora of the SPRNCA, undertaken between February 2001 and November 2003. The goal of this study was to provide information on the occurrence and status of the vascular plants of this area. Groundwater pumping is a dynamic threatening to alter the present community structure and this baseline plant study will be critical in documenting changes to the plan community with time. A digital database was compiled with information on each plant's phenology, abundance, life span, native/exotic status, wetland occurrence, and habitat. Click here to view checklists, read habitat descriptions, and see maps and photos of the region and plants documented during the study. PDF versions of the entire report will be available soon on the website.

Service reproposes critical habitat for Endangered southwestern bird
In compliance with a court order, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reproposed 1,556 miles within the100-year floodplain of waters in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico as critical habitat for an endangered migratory bird, the southwestern willow flycatcher, which was listed as endangered in 1995.

The Service designated 599 river miles of flycatcher critical habitat in New Mexico, Arizona and California in 1997. Since the initial designation, the existence of additional breeding locations in southwestern Colorado, and southern Nevada and Utah has been recognized. In 2001, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals set aside designated critical habitat within New Mexico - the only state under the court's jurisdiction where critical habitat was originally proposed. The court found the economic analysis of the designation to be inadequate. The Service then set aside critical habitat designated for the species in all three states until a reassessment of the economic effects of designation could be completed.

All comments on the proposed critical habitat should be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to the Service by December 13, 2004. Send to Field Supervisor, Arizona Ecological Services Field Office, 2321 W. Royal Palm Rd., Ste 103, Phoenix, AZ 85021, or email to WIFLcomments@fws.gov or fax to 602-242-2513. Documents relevant to flycatcher critical habitat and recovery planning are available at http://arizonaes.fws.gov or by contacting the address above. Click here for more details.

TNC job opportunity: Southern Mexico Program Director
The Southern Mexico Program Director is responsible for designing and implementing a strategy for the conservation of biological diversity in the Southern part of Mexico (Yucatan Peninsula and Chiapas). S/he develops conservation strategies for key landscapes and oversees project implementation. S/he develops and maintains the relationship between TNC and local partners (in the NGO and governmental sectors) to ensure conservation success. S/he develops and administers program budgets. S/he fundraises for TNC conservation program activities and assists NGO partners to develop and implement fundraising strategies. S/he is supervised by the Mexico Program Director and supervises in-country staff located in the Southern Mexico office(s). Send letter of intent and resume to Edelmira Brindis ebrindis@tnc.org. Click here to view the entire announcement.