Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Accurate Indirect Indicators

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

As I have mentioned in several previous posts, one way of measuring the success of the ecosystem restoration along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River is by the increase in the diversity of bird species and the overall number of birds that inhabit this section of the river.

There is also an accurate indirect indicator of the quantity and health of the fish population in the river without actually having to do a catch and release count. It takes a fairly large number of fish to maintain a population of fish eating birds, so the more fish eating birds in permanent residence along the Mission Reach, the more fish there are living in the river.

The most common permanent, year round resident fish eating bird here is the Cormorant and they are abundant:








These photos were taken along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River upstream from the upper Mission Road trailhead on Monday, March 14, 2016.

Click on the first photo in a post to open the photos in slideshow view.

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