| During the past twenty years over 26,450 birds from 124 species have been captured and banded on the Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge using a continuous effort mist net program. The Refuge bird banding station samples birds associated with riparian/grassland ecotones.
The Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, located east of Elk Grove, California was established in 1994 and comprises over 2,600 ha in the Stone Lakes Basin. The Refuge has two ancient oxbow lakes, seasonal and permanent wetlands and associated riparian and grasslands which provide habitat for resident and migratory birds along the Pacific Flyway. The Refuge bird banding station began sampling birds in 1996 and has continued throughout the restoration period of these wetlands and riparian habitats.
From the capture and recapture data we analyzed capture diversity, abundance, age structure, and recruitment in both resident, winter and summer birds over time and relative to annual changes in rainfall on the Refuge.
Our findings indicate there were changes in recruitment in three resident species wrentit, song sparrow and spotted towhee over time corresponding with changes in rainfall patterns. We divided rainfall years into drought, average and flood conditions to compare age structure, capture diversity and recruitment.
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