Monitoring Bird Populations: The Canadian Experience

Dnn,; Dunn, Erica H.; Cadman, Michael D.; Falls, J. Bruce

doi:10.2307/1521628

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Population trend was scored on the rate of change over the longest time interval (usually 25–30 years) from the best available monitoring information, usually the Breeding Bird Survey but sometimes Christmas Bird Counts (Dunn et al 1997). Expert opinion was relied on if no other information was available.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Priority‐Setting Tool Applied to Canada's Landbirds Based on Concern and Responsibility for Species

Dunn¹,

Hussell

Welsh

1999

Conservation Biology

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As a contribution to Partners in Flight–Canada, the Canadian Wildlife Service developed a ranking system to help set priorities for landbird species. Two complementary species lists were generated: one with scores for “concern” representing vulnerability and population trend, and one for “responsibility” for regionally characteristic fauna. The concern score gave equal weight to vulnerability, a composite score based on abundance and breadth of range, and population trend, because its purpose was to give early warning of potential problems. Responsibility scores were scale‐free and were assigned for the season in which the species is most abundant. Other systems for identifying species of concern may be more appropriate for other jurisdictions or organisms, but the responsibility ranking is widely applicable. This system is a coarse filter that generates preliminary ranks; additional information should be considered in deciding how to allocate scarce resources for conservation. Unrefined results are nonetheless useful for a variety of purposes, as illustrated by the scores for Canadian landbirds. About 25% of Canada's high‐responsibility species are also of high concern. These high‐concern species are not associated with specific habitats or migration patterns. Conservation of species ranking high on concern and responsibility merits cooperation with the United States and Mexico in particular. The scores identified improved monitoring as a priority conservation activity for Canada.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Priority‐Setting Tool Applied to Canada's Landbirds Based on Concern and Responsibility for Species

Dunn¹,

Hussell

Welsh

1999

Conservation Biology

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“…Despite the dynamic and potentially rapidly changing nature of winter bird populations, relatively few studies have documented long-term changes in winter songbird abundance. Such surveys are important for understanding seasonal population fluctuation and mortality, shifts in migration timing, and determining the status of populations that breed farther north and are largely inaccessible to survey during the reproductive season (Dunn and Sauer, 1997;Hochachka et al, 1999;Lepage and Francis, 2002). In particular, surveys utilizing highly structured protocols are uncommon (Lepage and Francis, 2002;Lehikoinen et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparison of two snapshot studies half a century apart suggests stability in a Pacific Northwest winter forest bird community

Clements,

Robinson

2024

Front. Bird Sci.

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Populations of many North American bird species have declined throughout the past half century. The majority of studies quantifying these declines have analyzed counts of birds taken during spring and summer, not during the season of scarcity, winter. We re-surveyed seven large study plots in Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forests initially surveyed in winter during the late 1960s in the Oregon Coast Range, USA. We compared density estimates, observed species richness and vegetation structure within plots, and inspected aerial photography to describe changes in landscape-level landcover. To assess potential drivers of change, we reviewed historical climate data and explored patterns of abundance associated with forest age. Observed species richness was greater in the modern surveys. Abundances of four of the six most common bird species appeared to be similar to or slightly lower than 50 years ago as the historical point estimates usually fell within or above 95% confidence intervals generated from our analyses. We found no clear associations with changes in bird communities and forest structure, climate, or forest age. The historical data are unique in providing point estimates of abundance for the entire bird community on each study plot. Yet, some uncertainties in accuracy of the historic counting methods could still influence interpretation of multi-decadal changes in apparent abundance. We conclude that this Pacific Northwest bird community was relatively stable in its abundances of the most common forest-dwelling species and that largely the communities are still intact. Additional production of precisely repeatable surveys of winter bird communities are needed in all habitats to adequately characterize long-term population dynamics during the season of scarcity.

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Monitoring Bird Populations: The Canadian Experience

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Priority‐Setting Tool Applied to Canada's Landbirds Based on Concern and Responsibility for Species

Priority‐Setting Tool Applied to Canada's Landbirds Based on Concern and Responsibility for Species

A comparison of two snapshot studies half a century apart suggests stability in a Pacific Northwest winter forest bird community

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