The Ecology of Bird Loss Project

31/07/2026

Be sure to send a heartfelt "strong work!" to EBL leader Dr. Haldre Rogers for her recent honor from the Ecological Society of America! https://share.google/kdfLcABBwKAC1nbPf

13/06/2024

An EBL team was extremely fortunate to spend a few days on the beautiful island of Aguiguan this past weekend, partly for research on bird diets and partly to explore a new island with a great group of colleagues and friends. An enormous thank you to for allowing us to access the island, and thank you to the CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife for permitting us to do research. We also want to give a huge thank you to and for planning this trip and for all of the logistical support and hospitality along the way!

05/06/2024

Over the last few weeks we have been mist-netting on Luta and Saipan. Here’s a quick snapshot of some of our adventures from the start of our summer field season out in the Marianas!

24/02/2024

Come on down to Mariana Islands Conservation Conference at Crowne Plaza, and check out exciting opportunities to work with agencies like USFWS, BECQ, CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife and College/Universities like Virginia Tech and Northern Marianas College. Please share widely!!

28/11/2023

Calling all graduating high school students from Guam, CNMI, FSM, RMI, and Palau! 🎓🎓 Ready to embark on your college journey? Don’t miss our exclusive Zoom info session with a VT recruiter! Let’s dive into exciting majors, scholarships, and more!

05/06/2023

With the eye of grazing the northern tip of the island at it passed through the Rota Channel (rated at the time as Category 4, with sustained winds up to 140 mph), we were concerned about the fate of our Såli nest boxes deployed across the housing areas of Andersen Air Force Base. We were very relieved to find that they passed the ultimate test: all but one of the 70 boxes currently installed survived the storm unscathed, and the damaged box only lost its roof, which can be easily replaced. 🥳

We are glad that the boxes can continue to provide predator-safe nesting sites for Guam's Såli as their population recovers from the effects of the storm. The birds, in turn, will provide critical seed dispersal services to the hard-hit native limestone forest.

These boxes were originally installed in 2015 in a project led by Dr. Julie Savidge of Colorado State University, and have been maintained and expanded by EBL since 2017.

📷 Martin Kastner

10/05/2023

Si Yu’os Ma’åse’, thank you to Martin Kastner and Kayla Baker of the for their donation of 3 Såli nest boxes for the DAWR Såli project. These will aid in expediting the deployment of Såli nest boxes in Såli villages on Guam. Yigo, Dededo, Tamuning-Tumon-Harmon, Hagåtña, and Malesso’ and Islan Dåno’, here we come!

01/05/2023

We are hiring a pollination ecology crew leader! For more details, see our website (link below).

EBL positions (May 2023) Pollination Ecology Crew Leader – Mariana Islands (Guam, Saipan, Rota) Our pollination ecology project uses multip...

20/03/2023

Last week, the EBL field crew finished a census of the Såli population on Andersen Air Force Base in Yigo, Guam. This is an intensive effort that involves 3 full week-long counts of the population, plus additional counts of surrounding forest and village areas. We count all the birds we see, but focus especially on color-banded birds to get the most precise count possible. We are interested in both the size and the demography of the population (how many birds in each age class - lots of juveniles and subadults in these 📷 by Martin Kastner). In 2018 we estimated around 1,500 Såli in the population. Stay tuned to fined out the results of this year's count!