Summary Report: Klamath Bird Observatory's 2011 Long-term Constant Effort Monitoring Station Efforts in the Klamath-Siskiyou Bioregion

Frey, Robert; Stephens, Jaime; Alexander, John

Klamath Bird Observatory (KBO) continued its comprehensive, long-term bird monitoring program in the Klamath-Siskiyou Bioregion in 2011. The objectives of this program are to collect data that provide an index to species diversity and abundance in riparian and upland habitats, to evaluate the reproductive success, survivorship, and population health of Neotropical migratory and resident birds, and to track landbird population trends. The Klamath-Siskiyou Bioregion lies within the Partners in Flight (PIF) Pacific and Intermountain West Avifaunal Biomes. Our monitoring efforts are conducted within several habitat types including true fir, mixed conifer, mixed conifer hardwood, oak woodland and riparian forest types. PIF describes 45 associated focal species for which habitat conservation and monitoring efforts should be targeted (Altman 1999, 2000, CalPIF 2002, RHJV 2004, Rich et al. 2004; Tables 1a-1c). KBO’s monitoring efforts are a major component of the Klamath Bird Monitoring Network, a regional program established in 1992 (Alexander et al. 2004). KBO works with the U. S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, Arcata and partners in the Klamath-Siskiyou Bioregion to fulfill monitoring goals defined by the National PIF Inventory and Monitoring Working Group (Hussell and Ralph 1998, Rich et al. 2004) and Oregon-Washington (Altman 1999, 2000, Altman and Bart 2000) and California PIF (CalPIF 2002, RHJV 2004) recommendations. As a part of KBO’s long-term monitoring program, we maintained efforts to track population trends and demographics with constant effort mist netting stations, breeding bird surveys, and extensive point count survey routes throughout the Bioregion. KBO also continued development of its role as a support source for regional research and monitoring projects by providing technical assistance, training, and consultation to cooperating individuals, organizations, and agencies. This report provides a summary of 2011 constant effort mist netting station and other mist netting efforts, technical training, and banding-associated outreach and education efforts. KBO’s long-term monitoring point count efforts are documented in a separate report (Stephens and Alexander 2011).