The george miksch sutton avian research center seeks to prevent extinction by buildingsustainable populations of the masked bobwhite (MBW), an iconic bird of southernarizona and northern sonora, and…

The george miksch sutton avian research center seeks to prevent extinction by buildingsustainable populations of the masked bobwhite (MBW), an iconic bird of southernarizona and northern sonora, and the attwaters prairie-chicken (APC), a prairie grouseunique to the texas gulf coast. The proposal will address priority 1 actions identified in bothspecies recovery plans: 1) sustain a successful management program for captive MBW andapc with biosecurity measures in place that ensure survival in the event one captive populationincurs a catastrophic event. The proposal incorporates sound nutrition sanitary enclosures disease and parasite control and a sound genetic management scheme supported by accuratepedigree records 2) annually produce up to 1,200 MBW and 200 APC vigorous, healthy chicksto be retained as future breeders or released, through sustained breeding, rearing, safe delivery, pre-release conditioning, and species-specific release methods while incorporating continuousadaptive management techniques to maximize the effectiveness of the release efforts. And, 3)provide and promote public education and outreach in support of saving these endangeredspecies.for both the MBW and APC, captive breeding is the sole source of birds for reestablishingviable populations in the wild. A flock of MBW is housed near buenos airesnational wildlife refuge (banwr) for maintaining genetic lines, however the sutton centerretains the primary breeding flock for producing the majority of MBW for release at banwr.for apcs, the sutton center is one of four facilities that retain breeders in captivity. Currently, the sutton center maintains approximately one-third of captive apcs held for breeding, withland available for future expansion. The sutton center is an essential partner in these efforts, providing separate, extensive and dedicated state-of-the-art facilities and staff for each species.captive breeding for MBW and APC occurs at these separated facilities of the sutton avianresearch center near bartlesville, oklahoma, a facility with a history of successfully producingmasked bobwhites and attwaters prairie-chickens. Proposal support is provided by the usfwsrecovery teams, arizona game and fish department, buenos aires national wildlife refuge(banwr), attwater prairie chicken national wildlife refuge (apcnwr), the natureconservancy of texas, altar valley conservation alliance, quail forever and othercollaborators. Wild release of mbws will occur at banwr in southern arizona, while apcswill be released at the apcnwr and on private ranchlands in goliad county, texas. Releaseareas for both species are within their respective historical ranges and benefit both endangeredbirds and their associated species and landscapes.