Research

A strong and essential component of the Friend’s Education Program is the research that generates knowledge about the canyon and all of its diverse elements—geology, weather, plants, animals, birds, insects, and former human inhabitants. It is fortunate that Madera Canyon has been the focus of many research programs about the ecology, geology, and biology of the sky island habitats of southeastern Arizona.
At this time, there are several ongoing research programs in the Canyon, including work on hummingbirds, bats, and archaeology.

• The Hummingbird Monitoring Network (link) is monitoring species diversity and populations of hummingbirds that use the canyon throughout the year. Read about the hummingbird project. (link to hummingbird below)
• The Bat Program has installed 16 bat houses in the canyon and in the Santa Cruz valley. These will serve as breeding boxes and safe resting sites for the many species of bats that come through the canyon during migration. Read more about the Bat Project. (link to bat research below)
• Exploration of the archaeology of Madera Canyon continues at the White House ruins and in other areas of the canyon that were occupied by or used by Native peoples in the past. Read more about Madera Canyon archaelogy.  (link to Passport In Time Project)
  

The Hummingbird Project
Madera Canyon is one of 32 hummingbird monitoring sites in southeastern Arizona, southern and central California, British Columbia, Colorado, and New Mexico, all cooperating to learn more about the habitat requirements and populations of migrating and breeding hummingbirds. In Madera Canyon, we trap and band hummingbirds every other Monday from the middle of March to the end of October on the patio of the Chuparosa Inn. The data we collect include occurrence of birds at different times of year, the age and sex ratios of the population at each date, whether the birds are molting or building up fat for migration, and whether the females are preparing to lay eggs. From birds already banded, we learn about hummingbird longevity and sometimes of movement from one place to another over time.

Visitors are welcome to observe, take photos, and ask questions. If you would like to volunteer as an assistant for the project, contact Laurens Halsey at: desert-harrier@cox.net. If you would like to learn more about the national program, Hummingbird Monitoring Network, go to: www.HumMonNet.org.

Bat Research Program
The Bat Research Program is undergoing changes in 2009. The largest bat houses installed in the canyon have two basic problems: First, their large size catches the wind and has caused the steel support poles to bend in some places. Second, their large surfaces also catch the sun and temperatures in the houses climb to over 105°F several times in the summer and bats will not roost in places where the temperature reaches that level. So these larger houses are being replaced with smaller ones.

For the time being, the data recorders will not be operated. We are looking for volunteers who would like to join the bat research committee and decide what to do next with the program. If you are interested please contact Doug Moore at maderaedu@msn.com or call him at 520-682-0459.

Sixteen bat houses of three different designs were built by Al Tozier in 2003 and have been installed in Madera Canyon, the Continental School, and on the La Posada Campus along the Santa Cruz River. The designs are: Rocket Box that has two chambers, Nursery Box that has four chambers, and Wedge, that has only one chamber. The original plan was to install four boxes at four locations at different elevations in the canyon. However, others have taken an interest in the program and the Board has decided to place two boxes out of the canyon at lower elevations. In 2005, all the houses were repainted a neutral sandy-gray color to make them less conspicuous.
Following is a chart of the placement of the boxes:
 

If you walk the Proctor and White House Trails, you will see the boxes and new interpretive panels that tell about the 15 species of bats that inhabit the canyon and something about their natural history.

Each bat house has a small computer installed that records the temperature in the box four times each day. There is also a computer at each location that measures the outside temperature for comparison. The batteries of both computers last for about one year. The houses are lowered one at a time to change the batteries and download the temperature data to a laptop computer. The general plan for the houses and the data to be collected was suggested by the North American Bat House Research Project. Bat Conservation International (BCI) collects the data from over 6,000 volunteer research associates such as those in Madera Canyon. For more information on bats, go to the BCI web site at: www.batcon.org

There have been bats in several of the houses and we hope that more will show up each year. Please do not disturb the bat houses but look from a distance. Once colonies of nesting or roosting bats have been well established, we might be able to watch the bats leave the boxes to hunt in the evening and bring food back to their young. If we are lucky enough to get to this stage, we will provide more information here so you can watch this event in the canyon. The bat house on the La Posada campus had a colony of over 400 Mexican Free-tailed Bats in spring 2006 and a smaller number in the fall. These bats are migrants and do not stay in the houses in summer or winter. They are significant predators of mosquitoes and other flying insects along the Santa Cruz River Valley where La Posada is located.

For more information you may mail Doug Moore by contacting him at our email address: info@friendsofmaderacanyon.org.