Webless Migratory Game Bird Program Request for Proposals 2019

The Webless Migratory Game Bird Program (WMGBP) is seeking proposals for projects that will improve management of the 16 species of webless migratory game birds in North America. The primary purpose of the WMGBP is to support activities that will improve management of these species. The program has identified priority information needs, which are available on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's website. Proposals should address one or more of these priority information needs and provide a clear description of the project, including its objectives, methods, and expected outcomes. The proposal should also include a detailed budget and a description of the project's relevance to the WMGBP's priorities. Some of the key priorities include: * Improving harvest information programs * Completing integrated population models for mourning doves * Reevaluating necessary sample sizes for mourning dove banding programs * Assessing landscape-level changes in dove demographics * Better understanding hunter recruitment and barriers to hunting * Assessing the economic impact of dove hunting on local communities * Improving the monitoring of eastern population greater Sandhill cranes * Improving population abundance estimates of the mid-continent population * Implementing a national monitoring program for hunted rails and Wilson's snipe * Continuing to improve the Harvest Information Program sampling frame * Estimating vital rates to support population modeling * Developing a demographic-based model for assessing American woodcock population response to harvest and habitat management * Improving understanding of migration, breeding, and wintering habitat quality for American woodcock * Implementing a national marshbird monitoring program * Supporting National Wetlands Inventory updates and improvements * Determining the origin of harvest in select high-harvest states * Reliable demographics of band-tailed pigeons * Association of food availability with abundance and distribution of band-tailed pigeons * Status assessment of white-tipped doves in south Texas * Population and harvest data collected annually for Zenaida doves and scaly-naped pigeons * Adaptive harvest strategy for Zenaida doves and scaly-naped pigeons