NCCN Inventory Landbirds North Cascades National Park

Kuntz, Robert

Landbird inventory in North Cascades National Park, 2001-2002. In 2001 National Park Service, The Institute for Bird Populations (IBP), and Western Washington University initiated a two-year avian inventory of North Cascades National Park Service Complex (NOCA) to elucidate spatial patterns of abundance across the park for a large suite of species, and to produce information that will assist park managers and cooperators in developing the initial monitoring design for NOCA‘s long-term landbird monitoring program. The objectives of this inventory were as follows: Determine bird-habitat relationships across NOCA. Field test and evaluate a sampling method and survey design for inventory and monitoring avian populations in areas with diverse habitats and limited access. Gather data that will facilitate predicting avian responses to habitat changes due to land management practices and non-anthropogenic factors. During our two field seasons (2001 and 2002), we recorded distances to 11,769 individual birds during 1,551 point counts conducted along 229 transects. Sixty-six of these transects (comprising 693 individual survey points) were conducted along park trails, while the remaining 163 transects (comprising 858 individual survey points) were conducted off-trail, generally within a 1 km buffer around roads or trails. We documented the presence of 116 species in the park during the study. One hundred and five of these were detected during at least one point count, while the remaining 11 were recorded only during our early season training session, or at other times during the season when observers were not conducting point counts. We also conducted detailed habitat assessments at each of the 1,551 survey points.

NCCN Inventory Landbirds North Cascades National Park

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