Long-term studies allow researchers
to answer questions about birds and ecosystems in ways short-term
(3 to 5 years) studies are unable to. Conclusions drawn from short-term
studies may provide false or misleading results. Long-term studies
allow us to investigate how birth and death rate, climate change,
and habitat change affect bird populations.
KBO's long-term monitoring
projects include:
Songbird mist netting and bird
banding
Point Count Stations throughout
the Klamath-Siskiyou Bioregions
KBO completes long-term point
count routes each year which are dispersed throughout the Klamath-Siskiyou
Bioregions. Long-term monitoring allows us to determine population
trends across the landscape, as well as examine bird populations in
relation to natural and anthropogenic habitat changes. Point count
routes are a series of 12 to 50 stations which are surveyed in a single
morning. The majority of our routes are completed off-road within
an array of habitat types. We also complete road routes, including
six Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) routes. BBS surveys, which are organized
by the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, were developed as a continent
wide breeding bird survey to identify changes in bird populations.
We contribute the data from these routes to the BBS database, as well
as use it in analyses of local and regional trends. In addition, KBO
has intensive long-term point count routes in the Upper Klamath.
Black
Tern Monitoring
Small
Owl Monitoring
PRESENTATIONS:
Alexander, J. D., D. C. Barton,
and N. E. Seavy. 2005. Local and regional trends in breeding and migratory
bird populations in the Klamath and Rogue River Valleys 1993-2003.
Cooper Ornithological Society, June 14-19, Arcata, CA. [abstract]
