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Inventory and Monitoring,
Biological Resources Division,
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
ftp://cameron.cr.usgs.gov/pub/nbii_metadata/brdpwrc0008.txt
(text format)
and
ftp://cameron.cr.usgs.gov/pub/nbii_metadata/brdpwrc0008.html
(HTML format)
and
ftp://cameron.cr.usgs.gov/pub/nbii_metadata/brdpwrc0008.sgml
(SGML format).
no national colonial waterbird population database currently
exists. Planning is underway (both in USGS, Biological Resources
Division and the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS)) to develop a
monitoring program. Feedback on a data form has been solicited
from a number of states and many have responded. We now have a set
of "core fields" that have been agreed upon; these represent the
minimum set that is felt to be necessary to determine status and
trends, including:
(1) colony site location and name,
(2) general nesting habitat description and use,
(3) census methods, and dates, and
(4) population size of each species.
Given the various types of software and hardware in use in
different states, the most effective way to centralize the data
would be to have contributing agencies provide an exported data
file and description of the data fields. The location of the
centralized database is expected to be the Patuxent Wildlife
Research Center. The planning at this point includes an analysis
by state, region, and nation of each species, similar to what the
Breeding Bird Survey does annually. Of course, publication and
privacy rights of the contributed data will need to be addressed.
We may use the Bird Banding Laboratory as a model for this.
RECOMMENDED PROTOCOL FOR A REGIONAL/NATIONAL COLONIAL WATERBIRD
INVENTORY & MONITORING PROGRAM
A number of meetings and workshops have been held in recent years
to address inventories of waterbirds and their habitats. With the
initiation of the new Biological Resources Division of USGS, a new
emphasis is being placed on inventory and monitoring of our national
biological resources. Coupled with this is a realization that, to be
effective, partnerships among state, federal, and non- governmental
organizations (NGO) are necessary to complete these large tasks.
Because they are top carnivores in the food web and many species are
strongly tied to wetlands, waterbirds are consistently identified as
an important wildlife component to monitor. Wetlands are often
identified at state and federal levels as habitats that are in the
greatest jeopardy.
locations and feeding areas to assist them in making decisions
about protection and/or acquisition.
2.State, Federal, and NGO groups need to know status and trends of
selected populations of waterbirds at local, regional, and
national scales.
3.Waterbird monitoring may provide useful "bioindication" of
changes in wetland habitats over time
4.Waterbirds are an important recreational resource (e.g. bird
watchers) and are often used as symbols for conservation
(e.g., National Audubon Society logo, Maryland's Chesapeake Bay
commemorative license plate). Thus, their status is often quite
conspicuous.
nesting. In the north (ca. 36 N latitude), the nesting inventories
should be focused between 1 June and 25 June. In the south, this same
period should also apply to the ground-nesters, but for wading birds,
at least two visits are probably necessary, one in March, the other in
late May-early June. In Florida, with year-round nesting, 3-4
estimates may be necessary to include all species. If at all possible,
all colonies in the south should be visited at least twice. Visits
should be spaced at least a month apart.
Most agencies cannot afford a large-scale inventory of all colonies on
an annual basis. Given that, a number of alternatives are possible
(see Erwin et al. 1984 Proc. Workshop on Manage. of Nongame Species
and Ecol. Commun., Univ. of Kentucky). Assuming funding
limitations. our recommendation is as follows:
1.Monitor ground-nesting species (gulls, terns, skimmers,
cormorants, pelicans) every 4 years. For species of
special concern (endangered, etc.), the major colonies
should be censused annually.
2.Monitor tree-nesting (wading birds) every 4 years, the year
following the ground-nesting inventory. Annual counts for
major colonies of selected species (e.g. Wood Storks).
The scheduling should be kept consistent among regions to insure that
"metapopulations" are sampled at the same time. If schedules differ
among states, interpretation of trends over regions becomes
problematic. For example, some data exist to show that Roseate, Common
and Least Terns move among colonies in New York, Connecticut, and
Massachusetts. Thus, New York (Long Island) and southern New England
states should form a regional unit when censusing. Other areas form
natural units, such as Chesapeake Bay (Maryland and Virginia) and
western Gulf of Mexico (Texas-Louisiana).
and West Coast, not Alaska.
Procellariiformes - true seabirds petrels, guillemots, shearwaters
Pellicaniiformes - pelicans and cormorants
Ciconiiformes - herons, ibises, egrets, storks
Charadriiformes - gulls, terns, skimmers, alcids
Biological Resources Division,
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
States in 1993
Some data collected by Individual volunteers
Contact Brett Hoover for state contacts
Many papers have been published regarding census methods for seabirds,
fewer for wading birds. It is widely recognized that the total number
of breeding pairs at a colony in a given breeding season is the
desired value to be estimated. This value is often elusive because of
the non-synchronous breeding of many species at a colony (e.g.,
tropical populations are much more protracted than are arctic
populations in nesting), the crypticity of nests (e.g. crevices), or
sometimes simply the large size of the colony. The desire to achieve
accuracy may come at the cost of disturbance. Bibby et al. (1992, Bird
Census Techniques, Academic Press Ltd) for instance recommend plot
sample methods but caution investigators to limit visits to a tern
colony to 20 min. We present our recommendations for censusing various
groups, keeping in mind that cost and time are usually limiting
factors for most states. Most of this information has been published
previously (Erwin 1979 USFWS/OBS publ., Erwin 1985 Trans. NE Fish &
Wildl. Conf.).
1.Alcids, petrels, and "true seabirds" - Because they are represented
in only a small number of states, the reader is referred directly
to Nettleship (1976), Birkhead and Nettleship (1980), and
Bibby et al. (1992). In most cases, monitoring small plots for
nests is recommended, with densities then extrapolated to the
entire colony area to estimate breeding populations.
2.Gulls - Colonies can be located easily by fixed-wing aircraft
and estimates of small colonies (<300) can be made from the air
where the habitat is fairly open. For larger colonies, ground
estimates can be made relatively rapidly by having several
counters flushing nesting birds while walking through the colony.
The total number of gulls estimated in the air can then be used
as a rough estimate of "nesting pairs" since, during the day,
roughly one adult is present per nest (Erwin l979). If more
detailed data are desired at any colonies, plots ranging to
20 X 20 m may be desirable, depending on the nest density
(Bibby et al. 1992). Mark-recapture methods (Lincoln-Peterson)
can also be used to estimate the accuracy of the nest
counts (Erwin l979).
3.Cormorants - Because they are black and produce a white guano
background, cormorants can be easily photographed from fixed wing
aircraft with a 35 mm B&W film camera. If aircraft are not
available, conducting a ground count can be done either by
estimating numbers flushing from the ground (or trees), or by
estimating the number of birds after they land in the water near
the colony. Because they fly in lines, they are easier to estimate
than many other seabirds.
4.Terns, Brown Pelicans, and Black Skimmers - Some species such as
the large Royal and Sandwich Tern can be counted from aerial photos,
along with skimmers. However, not all sites are nesting colonies;
sometimes skimmers roost on sites that appear to be colonies from
aircraft. Therefore, we recommend ground estimates of large
colonies (>200) and direct nest counts for smaller colonies.
Because the large terns and Brown Pelicans nest on the ground in
the open, counts of incubating birds can often be made from a
vehicle or on foot using a scope. This has the advantage of avoiding
disturbance and egg loss to avian predators such as Fish Crows.
For the small and intermediate-size terns, we recommend using the
adult estimate as the estimated number of breeding pairs, since
most attempts to correlate numbers of nests and adults converge
at about 1.0, although there may be variation by time of day,
season, or colony.
For Least Terns and Gull-billed Terns, colonies are usually small and
nesting can often be protracted through the season. Direct nest
counts should be attempted and 2-3 visits may be necessary from
June into July. Using the 1:1 adult to nest ration usually still holds.
Arguing over the appropriate "correction factors" is probably a
minor source of variation in the overall program. Consistency,
especially within each state, is the most important element in any
monitoring program.
5.Wading birds
a. Great Blue Herons - Because they are so widespread, they are
a species being monitored at a number of locations. We recommend
nest counts from photographs in the early Spring before leaves
come out in the northern parts of the U.S. (early to mid-April).
Ground counts can also be done with more difficulty. Nest trees
should be individually marked and numbers of nests recorded.
This should be done after the young begin to hatch, both to
help locate nests from the debris on the ground near the trees,
and to reduce disturbance at the site.
b. Wood Storks - Because of their Endangered status, effort should
be made to estimate rather precisely the number of nests in a
colony. This can sometimes be done from fixed-wing aircraft, but
usually ground censuses are needed. Because storks depend on
water level conditions, colonies may shift; therefore, extensive
surveying may be needed using a stratified random survey design.
Simply returning to previously-used sites may result in a bias
in trends.
c. Mixed heronries of intermediate-sized herons - Most heronries
have several or more species. Because the eggs of many species
are indistinguishable, estimating exact numbers of nests can be
difficult. We recommend that, for small heronries (<100 nests),
a nest count be attempted but time limited to 30 min. To "assign"
the nests to different species in a mixed colony, estimate the
number of each species flushing from the colony. For larger
colonies, we recommend that several censusers enter the colony
to flush birds, while 2 or more observers remain outside to
estimate numbers by species. It may be necessary to divide up
the species by observer. We recommend estimating Black-crowned
Night-Herons and ibises first, since these are the first to
flush from the colony. On average, we estimate one adult equals
one nest for most wader species.
6.General Comments - If a state is so large that a complete
inventory cannot be achieved in a given year, it is best to
conduct a census of the large colonies at a minimum. Because some
of the site dynamics will be lost, we recommend that 2-3 other
areas (e.g. counties) be thoroughly censused to determine the
degree of site turnover (Erwin et al. 1984, Erwin 1985). These
could even be done in years other than the one devoted to the
large-colony effort. The comment highlighted above under Wood
Storks needs to be reiterated: simply returning year after year
to previously occupied sites leads to a dangerous bias. A
carefully developed survey is needed to identify new sites that
may develop as well as revisiting old sites.
Associated Attributes - nesting populations, breeding distributions
Inventory and Monitoring,
Biological Resources Division,
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
utility of the data on any system or for general or scientific
purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such
warranty. This disclaimer applies both to individual use of the data
and aggregate use with other data. It is strongly recommended that
these data are directly acquired from the Biological Resources Division (BRD)
U.S. Geological Survey and not indirectly though other sources which may have
changed the data in some way. It is also strongly recommended that
careful attention be paid to the contents of the metadata file
associated with these data. Neither the BRD nor the NASA
Global Change Master Directory shall be held liable for improper or
incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein.
Infrastructure Metadata.