Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY)2. REPORT TYPE PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)Cornell University, Ithaca NY PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S) SPONSOR/MONITOR'S REPORT NUMBER(S) DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENTApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ABSTRACTThis project developed acoustical systems for monitoring of wildlife sounds over large areas where access is limited. These systems were tested at Fort Hood, Texas, where Golden-cheeked Warblers and Black-capped Vireos are managed intensively. A balloon system was designed to carry digital audio recorders across inaccessible areas. Horn-loaded microphones were developed to provide lightweight acoustical sensors that were highly sensitive to bird songs and deemphasized low-frequency noise from military training activity. The balloon control system included GPS track logging, altitude control, and bidirectional wireless communications. Ground-based recording 6 ARU hardware 7 SUBJECT TERMSAerial platform development 10 Signal Processing 38Conclusions 46 Literature Cited 47iv Table 4 Weight reduction of balloon components 15 Table 5. Summary of all balloon flights. 18 Table 6. Species detected acoustically during one or more balloon flights at Fort Hood, sorted by Partners in Flight bird conservation score (BCS). 22 Table 7. Numbers of songs, and estimated numbers of birds detected for selected species detected during balloon flights over Fort Hood 24 Table 8 Comparing the modal song interval values and autocorrelation peak values for nine species of interest 30 Table 9: Summary of data on automated detection and classification of black-capped vireo song from ARU recordings 43 Extensive ground recordings of BCVI songs were obtained to develop and test automatic detection and classification software. Nearly three-quarters of a million BCVI songs were identified from a sample of nearly five million candidate sounds detected in more than 22,000 hours of recordings. List of Figures List of TablesSmall, drifting balloons provide...

Cover crops are an increasingly common conservation practice in intensive row‐crop agriculture of the Midwestern United States and can improve wildlife habitat. However, they also benefit agricultural pest species such as voles (Microtus), which have damaged cover‐cropped soybean fields in Indiana. We tested the feasibility of attracting raptors, which are natural predators of voles, to cover‐cropped fields by supplying artificial perches from which to hunt. We assessed raptor use of artificial perches in cover‐cropped fields during the winters of 2018 and 2019. Perches were erected at three different distances from the field edge: 50, 125 and 200 m. We modelled perch use of our three most common species, great horned owl, red‐tailed hawk and American kestrel, with a logistic generalised linear mixed model. Raptors used 82% of the perches, and perch use was greatest at 200 m. However, even at peak use, our best model predicted a low probability of overall perch use for all three species. Artificial perches can attract raptors into large row‐crop fields. Sturdier perch design, extended perch availability and greater vole populations could increase use of perches. Although raptor perch use by itself is unlikely to control vole populations in cover‐cropped fields, artificial perches could form a valuable component of an integrated pest management system.

The populations of many species of raptors that forage in agroecosystems have declined as agriculture has intensified. Cover crops are a recent trend in areas of intensive row-crop agriculture in the Midwestern United States that could positively affect raptors by increasing the abundance and distribution of raptor prey. We assessed the habitat use of two raptors, American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) and Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), and tested for use of areas near cover-cropped fields. We conducted 1184 km of roadside transects in 2018 and 2019 in west-central Indiana and recorded 191 detections of our focal species. We constructed resource selection functions within a use-availability design to evaluate raptor habitat use with a series of weighted logistic regression models. For each species, we fitted models at two scales (transect and landscape) and with two definitions of available points (completely random and random subject to perch constraints). American Kestrels were strongly associated with cover-cropped agricultural fields. Red-tailed Hawks were strongly associated with woodlots. Scale did not greatly affect the inclusion of habitat variables into top models for either species. Random models identified potential perch sites, whereas constrained random models identified more subtle habitat preferences not included in the random models. For American Kestrels, constrained models revealed reduced use of woodland perches and increased use of perches near cover-cropped and conventional agricultural fields. For Red-tailed Hawks, constrained models revealed habitat associations, particularly reduced use of utility lines and human development, that were absent or de-emphasized in random models. Modeling resource selection with constrained random availability will work best for well-studied species with discrete, easily mapped habitat features. If damage to commodity crops by rodents in cover-cropped fields is a concern, raptor management should focus on kestrels and could include erection of artificial perches, nest boxes, and enhancement of permanent herbaceous habitats for hunting. Utilisation des ressources par les rapaces dans les agroécosystèmes : les cultures de couverture et la définition de la disponibilité importentRÉSUMÉ. Les populations de nombreuses espèces de rapaces qui se nourrissent dans les agroécosystèmes ont diminué avec l'intensification de l'agriculture. Les cultures de couverture, une tendance récente dans les zones de cultures intensives en rangs du Midwest des États-Unis, pourraient avoir un effet positif sur les rapaces en permettant d'augmenter l'abondance et la répartition de leurs proies. Nous avons évalué l'utilisation d'habitat de deux rapaces, la Crécerelle d'Amérique (Falco sparverius) et la Buse à queue rousse (Buteo jamaicensis), et testé l'utilisation des zones près des champs de cultures de couverture. Nous avons inventorié 1 184 km de transects en bord de routes en 2018 et 2019 dans le centre-ouest de l'Indiana et noté 191 détections de nos espèces cibles. Nous avons ...

This technical note demonstrates the value of using online mapping tools as a method of geolocating Amish settlements. Primarily using freely available Bing and Google maps and published lists of the addresses of Amish ministers, we geolocated 1,362 Amish households in Ohio and 1,203 in Pennsylvania, representing about 10% of Amish households in those states. From these data we were able to derive a population density map of the Amish across Ohio and Pennsylvania. We caution that our map is merely a model and based on several assumptions, but the product is a finer resolution map of Amish distribution than has previously been published. We add that the locations of Amish schools provide another promising avenue for geolocation of Amish settlements, but we were not able to locate sufficiently comprehensive lists to include them in our analysis.

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