Surveys & Monitoring

Bird monitoring is a strategic conservation action involving repeated measurement of avian distribution, abundance, demographics, and/or health. Monitoring is important to assess the status of bird populations and to evaluate response of bird populations to management actions and environmental change. More than 1,000 bird monitoring programs are operational throughout the United States. Of these, approximately 170 monitoring programs have been cataloged within USFWS Region 3 in the Upper Midwest. Bird monitoring has an essential role to play in bird conservation planning, guiding design of on-the-ground activities, and evaluation of implementation to inform an iterative, adaptive management process.

Midwest Coordinated Bird Monitoring Partnership
The Midwest Coordinated Bird Monitoring Partnership is a regional network for bird conservation through enhanced coordination and exchange of monitoring information in a decision-based framework. The Partnership has been forged to help biologists, biometricians, data managers, wildlife administrators and citizen scientists achieve five overarching goals:

1. Integrate monitoring into bird management and conservation

2. Broaden the scope of monitoring for species most at risk and for which we lack adequate information to make effective decisions

3. Coordinate programs among organizations and across spatial scales

4. Improve survey design, field methods, and data analysis

5. Employ modern data management strategies

For more information or to join our efforts, contact Katie Koch, Midwest Bird Monitoring Coordinator (906-226-1249 or katie_koch@fws.gov).

Visit our website <http://midwestbirdmonitoring.ning.com/> often for updates, access to recommended protocols and monitoring programs, networking with other bird conservation practitioners, and using the Midwest Avian Data Center (available in 2011).

NEW! A Message from Midwest Bird Monitoring: The North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), coordinated jointly by the US Geological Survey and Canadian Wildlife Service, is one of the longest-running and more widely referenced bird monitoring programs in existence. The BBS is used to monitor the status and trends of North American bird populations. Following a rigorous protocol, BBS data are collected by thousands of dedicated participants along thousands of randomly established roadside routes throughout the continent. Professional BBS coordinators and data managers work closely with researchers and statisticians to compile and deliver these population data and population trend analyses on more than 400 bird species, for use by conservation managers, scientists, and the general public.

Presently, there are several dozen BBS routes in eight Midwest states that are listed as vacant for the 2011 season! If you or someone you know would like to sign up, please notify me, and I will route you to the proper contact to get you all set up. It's a great way to spend a morning, especially if you are mostly tied to your computer (as I am), and you walk away with the satisfaction of contributing to a very important data set used for many bird conservation decisions.

To learn more about the North American BBS, check out their website: http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/index.html.

Additional Information on Bird Monitoring Programs