Oregon

excerpts from the PFSS website

Guess those of us at eBird Northwest were thinking too fondly of post-turkey comas and we got caught napping before Thanksgiving! We almost missed our opportunity to help Point Blue Conservation Science announce and recruit for the Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey (PFSS).

There are still opportunities for your birding skills to contribute information on shorebird distribution, population trend, and regional and localized habitat needs along the coast, estuaries and wetlands of the Pacific Northwest. These events are scheduled through mid-December and some still need volunteers, including the December 17th survey in Coos Bay, Oregon supported by Klamath Bird Observatory and a few Washington surveys over the next two weeks.

Why?
Large-scale environmental changes, including urbanization, extreme weather and climate variation, agricultural flooding, and wetland restoration and management, are affecting wetland habitats throughout the Pacific Flyway. The influence of these changes on shorebird populations is not well understood. Past surveys of shorebirds in the Pacific Flyway were a snapshot of population and habitat conditions through the 1990’s and do not reflect these more recent landscape level changes. The annual PFSS will help fill existing information gaps and provide guidance to resource managers on how best to conserve shorebird habitats in the face of environmental change.

What is the PFSS?
PFSS is a coordinated multi-partner monitoring program led by Point Blue Conservation Science designed to guide the management and conservation of wintering shorebirds in the Pacific Flyway. The PFSS contributes data to the Migratory Shorebird Project, the largest coordinated survey of wintering shorebirds on the Pacific Coast of the Americas spanning 10 countries from Canada to Peru.

What about the Data?
Data have been collected by both professional biologists and citizen scientists and is currently available online through the Explore Data webpage. All data are stored in the California Avian Data Center. CADC is hosted by Point Blue and provides a secure, well-tested platform for storing, managing, analyzing, and visualizing ecological monitoring data. After you have collected your shorebird data and entered them into CADC, you can also enter those valuable checklists into eBird Northwest.

Want to learn more?
Training, protocols, data sheets, coordinator tips and transect maps can be found on the PFSS Resources webpage.

And, we eBird Northwest-ers will do a better job next year to let you know much sooner how you can participate in this great opportunity!