The Institute for Bird Populations

The Institute for Bird Populations, based in Marin County, California, is a non-profit organization dedicated to studying and monitoring bird populations, and providing land managers and policy makers with information needed to better manage those populations.

The Institute was founded in 1989 by President Dr. David DeSante to develop and coordinate the Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship Program (MAPS), a network of approximately 500 standardized bird banding stations studying breeding bird populations across North America. Other major initiatives include the development of the Monitoreo de Sobreviviencia Invernal Program (MoSI), a cooperative effort among agencies, organizations, and individual bird-banders in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean to monitor overwintering survival rates of both Neotropical migratory and resident bird species; research and conservation efforts on behalf of birds in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains (IBP's Sierra Nevada Bird Observatory); a coordinated effort to assist land managers in the development and deployment of bird monitoring programs on public lands; and the publication of Bird Populations, an online, peer-reviewed journal of global avian research.

Institute scientists (staff list) develop standardized bird monitoring techniques and tools for land managers and researchers studying bird populations, coordinate large-scale networks for monitoring vital rates of birds, conduct original research on the abundance, distribution, and ecology of birds, and convey their findings in scientific papers and reports to public and private land managers. The Institute also trains individuals, organizations, and agencies in the United States and abroad, in effective bird monitoring techniques (Internships and Training).

External links

The Institute for Bird Populations (www.birdpop.org)