Greater Gulf Refuge Waterbird Count

Backround and Goals: This partnership between Audubon, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is being implemented to monitor shorebird, wading bird, and waterfowl activity on lands that have been managed to provide additional habitat for migratory species making their way toward the Gulf. The surveys being conducted will focus on these management areas and ALL birds (not just shorebirds and waterfowl) will be counted.

Site:
The surveys will typically focus on a specific management area.  In eBird the site will be either a refuge or a subarea in the refuge or an eBird hotspot.  In eBird we ask that you use the “Audubon NWR Protocol” to enter your data.  This protocol is a modified area count. Your goal is to count all birds using the management areas that you are surveying.  Count birds in the management areas and ones flying over it if they are feeding above the area or searching for prey in the area but not ones that appear to just be flying across the management area.  This means that you would count swallows feeding above the water or hawks or falcons that are searching for prey in the area but you would not count a flock of geese that are flying above the area and obviously headed from outside the area to some distant place. 

You need to record the time spent surveying, the area covered, and distanced traveled.  The first time you do the survey you will need to calculate the area of your survey if that has not been provided.  This tool is easy to use to calculate area by placing a series of points on a Google map.  You only have to calculate the area once because each time you will survey the same area.

http://www.acme.com/planimeter/

Surveys should not be run during heavy rains or when winds are high because this will affect the ability to find birds and may affect the use of the area by birds.

Frequency:
Conduct survey three times per month at regular intervals (every 10-12 days) during migration and once per month during winter and breeding season.

Be consistent with the time of day you conduct the survey.

Determine an average time to spend on each survey site and cover the same area each time.  Be as thorough as you can in searching for birds. 

Protocol:
Record ALL birds within site parameters (i.e., each pond or impoundment separately). If a positive ID is not possible, record bird as part of a larger subset (i.e., peep sp., tern sp., gull sp.); these are available in eBird either on the checklist itself or by clicking “rare species” and then using the “add a species” box to type in the name.

Avoid counting birds more than once.  Watch for birds that might fly from one section of the site to another to attempt to avoid double counting.  You should count all birds that are using the site including those flying over the site that appear to be feeding or looking to feed in the site.  This means that you would count swallows feeding about the site.  Do not count birds that are flying across the site headed to someplace else unless you thought that they had just flown from within the site.  For example, you should not count a flock of ducks that are flying across the site from outside the area to some distant place but you would count the flock if it had been within your site and just took off to head to someplace else.

Be sure to record all pertinent data before departing. Remember to add comments and be detailed; the more information the better.

Report your findings using the specific eBird hotspot and record the data using the “Greater Gulf Refuge Waterbird Count.”

Retain all Data sheets/field forms. These forms will be collected at the end of each season.

To participate in this survey please contact Team eBird: ebird@cornell.edu