{"id":1104,"date":"2017-12-09T21:00:23","date_gmt":"2017-12-10T05:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/?p=1104"},"modified":"2018-02-11T20:58:26","modified_gmt":"2018-02-12T04:58:26","slug":"bird-eat-bird-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/2017\/12\/09\/bird-eat-bird-world\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s a Bird Eat Bird World"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Female sage-grouse in eastern Oregon, 2017. Photo credit: Hannah White<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the last half century, populations of Greater Sage-grouse \u2013 a relative of pheasants and chickens \u2013 have declined throughout their range. Habitat loss and degradation from wildfires is regarded as a primary threat to the future of sage-grouse in Oregon. This threat is exacerbated by the spread of invasive annual grasses (read: fuel for fires). In addition, raven populations, a predator of sage-grouse nests, are exploding. But how does all of this relate? PhD student Terrah Owens of Dr. Jonathan Dinkins lab in the Department of Animal and Rangeland Sciences<\/a> at Oregon State University and her colleagues are trying to find out.<\/p>\n

Specifically, Terrah\u2019s research is focused on the impact of wildfire burn areas \u2013 the burn footprint and edge \u2013 on sage-grouse predation pressure and how this influences habitat selection,<\/p>\n

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Terrah Owens with a radio-collared female sage-grouse in Nevada, 2015.<\/p><\/div>\n

survival, and reproductive success. To do this work Terrah is characterizing six sites in Baker and Malheur counties, Oregon, based on their burn history, abundance of avian predators, shrub and flowering plant cover, as well as invasive annual grasses. To monitor sage-grouse populations, Terrah captures and radio-marks female sage-grouse to identify where the birds are nesting and if they are producing offspring. Additionally, Terrah conducts point counts to determine the density and abundance of avian predators (ravens, hawks, and eagles) in the area. Burn areas generally provide less protective cover for prey, making it an ideal hunting location for predators. Ultimately, Terrah hopes her work will help determine the best ways to allocate restoration funds through proactive, rather than reactive measures.<\/p>\n

An encounter with a Bengal tiger at a petting zoo as a young girl inspired Terrah\u2019s lifelong interest in wildlife conservation. As an undergraduate, Terrah studied Zoology at\u00a0Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA. She then interned at Bonneville<\/p>\n

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Banding a juvenile California spotted owl, 2016.<\/p><\/div>\n

Dam\u00a0on the Columbia River for the California sea lion and salmon project. After this she went on to work for the U.S. Forest Service in northern California as a wildlife crew leader working with spotted owls, northern goshawk, fisher, and marten, among other species. She eventually moved on to work with sage-grouse in Nevada with the U.S Geological Survey.<\/span><\/p>\n

After graduate school, Terrah would like to head a wildlife service research unit and apply her wealth of knowledge and government experience to bridge the gap between scientists and policymakers.<\/p>\n

Join us on Sunday, December 10, at 7 PM on KBVR Corvallis 88.7 FM or\u00a0stream live<\/a>\u00a0to learn more about Terrah\u2019s research, how she captures sage-grouse, and her journey to graduate school.<\/p>\n

You can also download Terrah’s iTunes Podcast Episode<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the last half century, populations of Greater Sage-grouse \u2013 a relative of pheasants and chickens \u2013 have declined throughout their range. Habitat loss and degradation from wildfires is regarded as a primary threat to the future of sage-grouse in Oregon. This threat is exacerbated by the spread of invasive annual grasses (read: fuel for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8220,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109824,2310],"tags":[751226,1005960],"class_list":["post-1104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-of-agricultural-sciences","category-fisheries-and-wildlife","tag-animal-and-rangeland-sciences","tag-sage-grouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8220"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1104"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1185,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104\/revisions\/1185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}