The LWBA program will generate maps of relative abundance of birds in the state during late winter and early summer. To do this, we borrow the familiar, standard CBC methodology in terms of party-hours and party-miles to generate indices of relative abundance, and apply these to 7.5 minute USGS Quadrangle survey units, which are roughly one third as large as a CBC circle. We are requesting a minimum of twenty party-hours (total; not necessarily all in same day or year) is necessary to characterize a quad in the winter and ten morning hours for the summer period. These can be distributed in any way within the 6-week survey periods over the three year project duration. In fact, the same areas can be resampled multiple times as long as the numbers of birds are calibrated by party-hours and party-miles.

Data-entry and display is online, in partnership with the eBird program at Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

Goals

1. Publish an atlas of bird distribution for Louisiana using the same 7.5 quad scale as in the Wiedenfeld & Swan's Breeding Bird Atlas.
2. Add a level of information not present in Wiedenfeld & Swan or any other atlas to our knowledge, namely information on relative abundance based on birds/party hour. The atlas will reflect these data with perhaps 5-6 color shades, on a scale such as <1/party-hr, 1/party-hr, 10/ph, 100/ph, and 1000/ph.
3. Have all data displayed online as soon as entered by observers and filtered by quad compiler. Allow instantaneous uploading of new data to web page that displays atlas results.

Methods

1. Overview

This survey method combines the grid approach of an atlas with the effort-calibrated approach of the CBC. Breeding Bird Atlases typically provide only presence/absence data and do not provide information on relative abundance. Therefore, they can neither be used to assess differences in relative abundance within a state nor long-term population trends. CBC methodology, in contrast, permits this by calibration of all field data by party-hours, a technique familiar to all birders. The problem with using CBC circles for atlasing is that they are too few and too irregularly distributed geographically. Furthermore, the CBC period is too early in winter, and may not adequately reflect "true" winter populations. The CBC time period is not only short but also conflicts severely with major holidays. Also, CBC circles are so large (ca. 175 sq. miles) that covering them thoroughly requires substantially more effort relative to the roughly 67 sq. miles of a 7.5 quad. Finally, in contrast to atlasing efforts, dates for individual CBCs are set in advance and are essentially irrevocable once set; they are also restricted to a single 24-hr period. The method proposed here blends the strengths of both atlas and CBC methods and minimizes their weaknesses.

2. Specifics

a. Each quad has a compiler responsible for doing surveys and submitting data. Each compiler is encouraged to recruit qualified help to survey their quad. Data gathered within the quad by observers other than the compiler are submitted directly to eBird and checked by the compiler.

b. A survey consists of a bird count, CBC-style with respect to keeping track of numbers of individual birds, party-hours, party-miles, and rough habitat coverage. For inclusion in the atlas, a quad needs at least 20 party-hours of surveying, hopefully more. Those hours can be distributed over any number of days within the official "winter atlas" period. Thus, flexibility in survey dates allows avoidance of bad weather, and also permits a single observer to cover different sections of a quad on different days. An ideal survey might consist of the compiler organizing 2-4 teams to survey sections of the quad on a single day, CBC style. As long as party-hour and party-mile data are recorded, the fundamental unit of the atlas, namely birds/unit effort, remains intact. Repeat surveys of the same spots are also possible, again as long as the data are calibrated by effort. In summary, surveys can be conducted as often as resources permit.

Official "Winter" and "Summer" periods

Winter

Start: 10 January. This avoids the traditional CBC period and also coincides with the empirical observation that many "half hardy" species seem to disappear after early January. To some degree, the latter is an artifact of CBC period coverage, but not entirely.

End: 20 February. With Purple Martins arriving in mid January, some waterfowl beginning to leave in late January, and some residents nesting in January, there is no such thing as a "stable" winter period for the entire avifauna. Late February leaf-out for many trees in southern Louisiana certainly sets a late limit. An "end" date of 20 Feb. extends the period as long as possible without major departure of most winter residents. This may not apply to waterfowl, but waterfowl are not among the species for which this sort of survey is best suited.

Summer

Start: 1 June. Although some resident birds have completed a clutch by this time, most migratory birds have arrived and are in the full swing of nesting season.

End: 15 July. This date is prior to the late-July arrival of early migrants from the north.

Output

The atlas will consist of maps of the state for each species with each quad coded for relative abundance of that species in perhaps 4-6 shades of the same color. The relative abundance scale can vary among species, as can the unit of analysis (e.g., birds/party-hr on foot, birds/party-hr by car, etc.). [Details not important until we have a better feeling for the data.]

For fun, we will maintain tallies of total number of species, total number of party-hours, and so on, divided by region (Coastal Zone, Southern Interior, Northern Interior). See Remsen's tally sheet.

Timeline:

2006-07 - field-test methods on selected quads; promote the program; plan for next winter
2007-08 - all-out quad surveys
2008-09 - all-out quad surveys
2009-2010 all-out quad surveys
2010-11 - produce print version

Quad compiler responsibilities:

All submitted data will be checked by a Quad Compiler. In this first year, this will be via coordination with the compiler and also by a manual review of all data after the sampling period.

The Quad Compiler will make sure that at least 20 party-hours are invested in the quad between 10 Jan. and 20 Feb. and will make sure the data are entered into the eBird portal. The minimum unit for data-entry i.e. time period birded, is 1 hour. Thus, you could accumulate the 20 hours on 20 separate 1-hr time blocks.

Quad Compilers should try to pick survey dates to correspond to good birding weather to minimize "weather effects" on counts.

Quad Compilers should consider organizing one or more all-out 1-day surveys within a quad, carving it up into territories. In other words, make it like a Christmas Count (but one with the flexibility to avoid bad weather and holidays).