Distribution and Abundance of Wading birds in the Water Conservation Areas of the Florida Everglades

Nelson, David; Metzger, Robert

The effect of changing hydrology in Everglades on wading birds is studied in this report. Water levels, wading bird numbers, and mean monthly abundances were collected. Major changes in water management that are currently being proposed or implemented will alter the hydrology of the Water Conservation Areas and, consequently, the use of these areas by wading birds. Because these areas support huge concentrations of foraging wading birds (Hoffinan et al. 1994) and the largest percentage of the remaining nesting wading birds in the Everglades (Ogden 1994), monthly systematic reconnaissance flights (SRF) were conducted to investigate and monitor the relationship between modified hydrologic patterns in the Everglades system and the distribution and abundance of these wading birds. Surveys were flown with a fixed winged aircraft at an altitude of 60 meters along 50 parallel transects with 2 km spacing in the Water Conservation Areas from February to June 2002. The Holey Land and Everglades Nutrient Removal Area are adjacent to the Water Conservation Areas and were also surveyed each month. Wading birds were enumerated, their positions recorded, entered into a database, and summarized into tables. Densities of each species were separated into 4 km2 cells and plotted onto maps of the study area.