Greetings all,
All this talk of Olive-sided Flycatchers reminds me to send this email with a little more info on the NH Olive-sided Flycatcher Blitz, which will be occurring this summer and next. In my most recent message on this subject I mentioned the possibility of holding a training session sometime in early June. Because of the highly dispersed nature of this project, unpredictable turnout, and my own crazy schedule, I have decided NOT to do a training. Instead, I’ll outline the project in this email, and make project materials available to interested parties as needed.
Olive-sided Flycatcher (hereafter OSFL) populations have been declining in the Northeast, and the species is currently considered “special concern” in NH (and VT). Breeding bird Atlases in MA, VT, and NY all showed significant declines (~30%) between ~1980 and 2005. In the absence of a second Atlas in NH, I created the OSFL Blitz as an attempt to collect distributional data for a single species in a relatively short time frame. This will hopefully allow me to better assess how the species’ population and/or range have changed since the NH Atlas was done in the early 1980s. The project works basically like this:
1) I mined eBird, NH Bird Records, and other data sets for OSFL records in NH since 2000, and then excluded birds that were likely migrants (based on date, habitat, or observer comments).
2) These locations were assigned to 7.5 minute topographic quads (these same topo quads were the basis for the Atlas, albeit subdivided into 6 Atlas “blocks”).
3) I’m only worrying about quads in the northern and western part of the state: the area bounded by Rochester, Concord, and Milford is out of OSFL habitat and range.
4) Quads were assigned to one of five priority categories, based on how recently OSFL have been recorded there and if they were there during the Atlas:
a. Priority 1 = present during Atlas but no recent records
b. Priority 2 = not present during Atlas and no recent records
c. Priority 3 = present 2000-2009, irrespective of Atlas status
d. Priority 4 = present 2010-2013, irrespective of Atlas status
e. Priority 5 = quads not surveyed in Atlas and/or in areas highly unlikely to support the species
5) The goal for 2014-15 is to thus attempt surveys in all Priority 1 and 2 quads. These are concentrated in Central NH (Lakes Region, etc.), the Southwest, and western Coos County.
6) The basic idea is that volunteers “adopt” one or more quads – just like in the Atlas – and try to visit appropriate habitat within their quads at least three times during June and July. I will have maps available for all quads, plus a little more detail on the methodology, for anyone interested in helping out. Data from Priority 3 and 4 quads will obviously still come in (e.g., through eBird), but the most important thing is to check out the GAPS in the currently know distribution.
And that’s really all there is. Consider this a GREAT opportunity to
explore some new and different corners of the state and help us learn about a
declining
species at the same time. For example, I’m looking forward to poking around
in southern Sullivan County, but there are also empty spaces way up north as
well. So the next time you head to Pittsburg or Errol, consider stopping short
and investigating Colebook,
Odell, or Shelburn instead. And yes, Vermonters are welcome and encouraged to
cross the border in the name of conservation biology!
If interested, please contact me at [log in to unmask]. Hopefully, sometime next week I’ll find a place to put maps and such up on a website somewhere.
Hope you want to help!! (after all, who WOULDN’T want to survey for a bird that says “Quick, Free Beer!”)
Pam
Pamela Hunt, Ph.D.
Avian Conservation Biologist
New Hampshire Audubon
84 Silk Farm Road
Concord, NH 03303
(603) 224-9909 extension 328
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