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Monitoring Programs and

Common Forest Birds of

Minnesota

“You’ll learn the things you never knew, you never

knew” -

Vanessa Williams from “Pocahontas” – Colors of the Wind

Ecological

Services

Division of Fish

& Wildlife

(game spp.)

Forest Wildlife Populations &

Research Group (Grand Rapids)

Farmland Wildlife Populations &

Research Group (Madelia)

Wetland Wildlife Populations &

Research Group (Bemidji)

Central Office (St. Paul) &

Biometrics Group (Carlos Avery WMA)

Minnesota County Biological Survey

Monitoring & Control

Natural Heritage & Nongame Research

Nongame Wildlife Program

Scientific & Natural Areas

Monitoring for Tomorrow’s Habitat

-Approach

• Statewide

• Comprehensive

• Focus on key habitats

• Identify a common set of

indicators

• Integrate existing

information

• Fill monitoring gaps

• Amount

• Quality

• Associated species in greatest

conservation need

• Prairies, surrogate

grasslands,

savannas

• Key river reaches

• Lakeshores

• Wetlands

• Upland & lowland

coniferous forest

KEY HABITATS

Forest Wildlife Research Group

Prairie-chicken Lek Survey (1960‟s, 1974-2003, 2004-2006)

Sharp-tailed Grouse Lek Survey (1940‟s, 1976-2006)

Ruffed Grouse Drumming Survey (1949-1981, 1982-2006)

Waterfowl Breeding Population Survey

1968-1971 (archives) & 1972-2006 (digital)

May 1-25 (focus on breeding mallards in Prairie

and Transition zones)

115 aerial transects (0.25-mi wide)

Double sampling (14 air-ground segments) to

estimate visibility corrections

Estimated total ducks (by species) and May

ponds in sampling frame

Annual report (MNDNR public website)

Steve Cordts (MNDNR, Bemidji)

Statewide Bald Eagle Surveys

• Statewide surveys every 5 years:

2000 & 2005 completed

Statewide Bald Eagle SurveyNumber of known active bald eagles in Minnesota 1973 - 2005

Northern Goshawk Project 2003-Present

– Surveys for goshawk in new areas in NE

Minnesota

– Monitoring an average of 64 nests per year

– Habitat assessment and management plans for

territories

Minnesota Loon Monitoring Program

– 1989 Loon Survey

• 12, 052 + 1398 adult loons in

Minnesota

– Developed monitoring program in 1994

because:• Historical declines have occurred

• Minnesota contains over 50% of breeding adults in the lower

48 states

• Current anthropogenic threats exist

• People care about loons.

Piping Plover and Common Tern

Monitoring

– The Lake of the Woods area is the only remaining

breeding site for piping plovers in Minnesota.

– Nesting common terns are also assessed annually

Minnesota County Biological

SurveyBreeding bird surveys

MCBS Statewide 1988-2006breeding season bird surveys

• 69 counties completed

– +5 partially

completed

• 5,431 survey locations

– 4,454 point counts

– 977 species lists

• 73,000+ bird records

Animap : MCBS common animal data

Minnesota Owl Survey Routes

• In 2005, 51 MFTCS

routes used to

conduct owl surveys.

• 31 new routes added

to initial study area in

2006.

• In 2007, remainder of

MFTCS routes added

in state (~86).

Wisconsin Owl Survey Routes

• Used BBS routes to

survey for owls.

• Approximately 91

routes exist in the

state.

• Addition of new

routes under

consideration.

For more information:

-Check out the WBCI website:

www.wisconsinbirds.org

-Check out the Hawk Ridge

Bird Observatory

website:

www.HawkRidge.org

OR

Photo credit: www.michaelfurtman.com

HAPET Bird Monitoring

in Minnesota

Diane Granfors, USFWS

BCM Breeding Bird Inventory and Monitoring Workshop

Duluth February 14-15 2007

Pairs = 2.718[-0.63+0.55(lnsize)+a]

Playback List

5-minutes silence

Black Rail

Least Bittern

Yellow Rail

Sora

Virginia Rail

King Rail

American Bittern

Pied-billed Grebe

SECRETIVE MARSHBIRD SURVEYS

2002: 31 plots – 2 reps (morn, eve)

2003: 9 routes – 2 reps

2004: 11 routes – 3 reps

2005: 6 routes – 3 reps

2006: 11 routes – 3 reps

Rex Johnson

SECRETIVE MARSHBIRD SURVEYS

Christmas Bird Counts-

68 COUNT CIRCLES IN 2005

What is MAPS?• The World Bird Population

Institute (WBPI) investigates the reasons why bird populations change.

• The MAPS project is a part of the WBPI

• The Monitoring Avain Productivity Success (MAPS) studies birds while they nest in the spring. Birds are temporarily caught and then released. Scientists estimate the number of birds born and that survive into adulthood from this information

Check out are Web site

www.birdpop.com

Breeding Bird Surveyhttp://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs

• 3,100+ routes across US and Canada (random – systematic)

• ~80 roadside routes in Minnesota

• Experienced volunteers

• 24.5 mile routes, 3 min stops every 0.5 mile

Where?

House Finch

• Western species

• Introduced on Long Island in 1940

• Rapid growth in numbers with expanding

geographic range in Eastern US

• Expansion detrimental to native Purple

Finch

House Finch

Eastern US

Purple Finch

Eastern US

Breeding Bird Atlas

• 5 Years to complete, 2008 = Year 1

• Will survey all townships in MN and record

all breeding bird activity

• ANYONE can participate

• Website:

Minnesota‟s Forest Bird

Diversity Initiative• Funded by National

Forest System

• Program Leader –– Lee Pfannmuller

– Head, Ecological Services Division, MN DNR;

– Dr. Jerry Niemi, NRRI, UMD

“Forest songbird conservationefforts should be directed at…the largest tracts of forest suchas the Smokies, Adirondaks, and the North Woods of Minnesotaand Maine.”

John Terborgh, “Why AmericanSongbirds are Vanishing”Scientific American - May 1992

Reasons/Objectives to Initiate Regional

Monitoring

• Conduct off-road, habitat-specific monitoring

• Better our understanding of bird-habitat relationships

• Link population trends with habitat and landscape changes

•

Monitoring Design

• Proportional-stratified but restricted random design – „proportional‟ with available habitat and „restricted‟ by logistics

• 10-minute point counts (subdivided by 3 and 5 min) with about 12 points per morning

• Experienced (tested for song ID and hearing ability) and trained (standardize field methods for 3-4 days) observers

Monitoring Design Continued

• All birds seen or heard are identified from point – a concerted effort made to eliminate double-counting

• We use those individuals detected within 100 m in trend estimates - > 90 % of all observations

• > 1600 points censused annually

General Summary of Results –

1991 to 2007

• 24,500 surveys

• 377,000 birds observed

• 175 species

• 73 species tested for trends in 2007

Internet

www.nrri.umn.edu/mnbirds

Common Forest Birds of northern MN/WI –

NRRI/U of MN Forest Bird Monitoring 1991-2007

Rank Species Count

1 Ovenbird 48811

2 Red-eyed Vireo 37423

3 Nashville Warbler 20016

4 White-throated Sparrow 17786

5 Chestnut-sided Warbler 16422

6 Veery 13537

7 Least Flycatcher 10183

8 Hermit Thrush 9905

9 Blue Jay 9630

10 Black-throated Green Warbler 8216

11 American Robin 8028

12 Common Yellowthroat 7140

13 Mourning Warbler 6080

14 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 5799

15 American Redstart 5539

16 Black-capped Chickadee 5128

17 Winter Wren 4988

18 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 4956

19 Blackburnian Warbler 4926

20 American Crow 4872

Increased in one

national forest

Increased in two

national forests

Increased in three

national forests

American Goldfinch American Redstart

Red-breasted

Nuthatch

Black-and-white Warbler Black-capped Chickadee

Blackburnian Warbler Cedar Waxwing

Brown Creeper Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Black-throated Blue Warbler Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

May Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Hairy Woodpecker

Indigo Bunting

Magnolia Warbler

Red-eyed Vireo

White-breasted Nuthatch

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Northern Flicker

Yellow Warbler

Summary of species with increasing trends (P ≤

0.05) on three national forests (1991-2008).

Decreased in one

national forest

Decreased in two

national forests

Decreased in three

national forests

American Crow Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Wood-Pewee

American Robin Yellow-rumped Warbler Hermit Thrush

Blue-headed Vireo Veery Ovenbird

Brewer‟s Blackbird Scarlet Tanager

Brown Thrasher

Brown-headed Cowbird Winter Wren

Black-throated Green Warbler

Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Evening Grosbeak

Mourning Warbler

Warbler

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Ruffed Grouse

Red-winged Blackbird

Song Sparrow

Tennessee Warbler

White-breasted Nuthatch

Summary of species with decreasing trends on

three national forests (1991-2008).

Ovenbird

Ovenbird Breeding Habitat

• Mature deciduous

and coniferous forest

• Most abundant in

forests with an open

understory

• Long-distance

migrant

Red-eyed Vireo

Nashville Warbler

White-throated Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow breeding habitat

• Recent 3-20 year old

logged areas

• Black spruce/tamarack

forested wetlands

• Requires thick coniferous

understory

• Species over-winters in

southern United States

Chestnut-sided

Warbler

Veery

Least Flycatcher

Hermit Thrush

Blue Jay

Black-throated

Green Warbler

American Robin

Common Yellowthroat

Mourning Warbler

Rose-breasted

Grosbeak

Winter Wren

Black-capped

Chickadee

American Redstart

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Blackburnian Warbler

American Crow

Northern Goshawk

Boreal

Chickadee