Hello Birders,
As part of a regional bird monitoring program, the Vermont Institute 
of Natural Science (VINS), in collaboration with the National Park 
Service's Inventory and Monitoring Program, is seeking volunteers to 
help conduct long-term bird monitoring at 8 National Parks and 
Historic Sites across the Northeast region, including Saint-Gaudens 
National Historic Site in Cornish, NH.  At each park, volunteer 
observers will "adopt" a study site consisting of between 5 and 10 
point count stations spaced 250 meters apart.  Each June these points 
will be surveyed during an early morning visit, and every bird seen 
or heard will be recorded within a 10-minute listening period.  At 
Saint-Gaudens, a total of 10 point counts have been established in a 
mixed hemlock/hardwood forest.

Skills Required: Volunteer observers must possess excellent bird 
identification skills (both visual and aural), and be capable of 
identifying the majority of songbird species that breed in the 
park.  They must also be capable of hiking on variable terrain 
without trails, and navigating with GPS and/or map and compass.

Time Commitment:  Each survey will take between 2 and 4 hours 
(depending on the number of points surveyed) during a single morning 
in June.  This does not include travel time to and from the 
park.  Surveys are to be conducted during the early morning hours 
(e.g. arrive at the first point at approximately 5-5:30 AM).  In 
addition, another 1-1.5 hours of time is required to transfer data 
from field forms onto data sheets, and to enter data into an online, 
web-based data entry system before August 1st.  Because this is a 
long-term monitoring program, we are most interested in participants 
who can make a multi-year commitment to the project.

For more information about the protocol, visit 
<http://www.vinsweb.org/cbd/FBMP.html>http://www.vinsweb.org/cbd/FBMP.html

For questions or to participate, contact:


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve Faccio
Senior Staff Biologist
Conservation Biology Department
Vermont Institute of Natural Science
6565 Woodstock Road
P.O. Box 1281
Quechee, VT  05059
802-359-5001  xt 223
[log in to unmask]
www.vinsweb.org/cbd
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

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