SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Monitoring (2009 - 2025)
Whelan KR and Muxo R. SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Monitoring (2009 - 2025). 2009. National Park Service
The South Florida/Caribbean Network (SFCN) conducts long-term colonial nesting bird monitoring as part of the nationwide Inventory and Monitoring Division of the National Park Service. Breeding colonies of wading birds (orders Ciconiiformes, Pelecaniformes) and seabirds (orders Suliformes, Pelecaniformes) serve as important indicators of aquatic ecosystem health, as they respond to changes in food abundance and quality, contaminants, invasive species, and disturbance. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, Restoration Coordination & Verification program (CERP-RECOVER) has identified wading-bird colonies as an important ecosystem restoration indicator. The specific objectives of this monitoring program are to determine status and long-term trends in the numbers and locations of active colonies of colonial nesting birds with a special focus on Double-crested Cormorants, Great Egrets, Great White Herons, Great Blue Herons, White Ibises, and Roseate Spoonbills, annual peak active nest counts of colonial nesting birds in Biscayne National Park with a special focus on the species mentioned above, and the timing of peak nest counts for the focal species. Monitoring is conducted first by an annual aerial park-wide survey using a helicopter to locate nesting colonies of wading birds and seabirds within Biscayne National Park, then nesting colonies are photographed during monthly aerial surveys, and the photographs are analyzed in the office to identify and count active nests by species. This project is a repository for all datasets, protocols, reports, and other types of publications pertaining to colonial bird monitoring at Biscayne National Park.
- Type
- Project
- Authors
- Whelan, Kevin; Muxo, Rob
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- BISC
- Keywords
- bird, Biscayne Bay, colonial nesting birds, colony, cormorant, egret, heron, ibis, monitoring, South Florida, spoonbill
Program
Products
- Biscayne National Park colonial nesting birds monitoring protocol—Version 1.1
- Report of colonial nesting birds in Biscayne National Park for the 2018–2019 nesting year
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2021)
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2020)
- SFCN Colonial Bird Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2019)
- SFCN Colonial Bird Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2017)
- SFCN Colonial Bird Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2016)
- SFCN Colonial Bird Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2015)
- SFCN Colonial Bird Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2014)
- SFCN Colonial Bird Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2013)
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Bird Monitoring Flight Photographs - Biscayne National Park (2023)
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Monitoring Photographs - Biscayne National Park (2022)
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Monitoring Photographs - Biscayne National Park (2021)
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Monitoring Photographs - Biscayne National Park (2020)
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Monitoring Photographs - Biscayne National Park (2019)
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Monitoring Photographs - Biscayne National Park (2018)
- Colonial Nesting Birds Monitoring Photographs - Biscayne National Park (2017)
- SFCN 2009-2016 Colonial Nesting Birds Flight Photographs (Offline)
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Standard Operating Procedure - CNB01: Personnel Training—Version 1.1
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Standard Operating Procedure - CNB02: Safety Requirements and Procedures to Fly in a Helicopter for Colonial Bird Monitoring in Biscayne National Park—Version 1.1
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Standard Operating Procedure - CNB03: Camera Use and Setup, Geotagger Use and Setup, and Photography from a Helicopter—Version 1.1
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Standard Operating Procedure - CNB04: GPS Track Downloading, Photo Downloading and Archiving, Photo Geotagging, Photo Renaming, and Photo Tagging in ThumbsPlus—Version 1.1
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Standard Operating Procedure - CNB05: Collecting Data, Circling Nests, and Counting Nests—Version 1.1
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Standard Operating Procedure - CNB06: Data Entry, Data Proofing, and Reporting—Version 1.1
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Standard Operating Procedure - CNB07: Revising the Protocol—Version 1.1
- Colonial nesting birds in Biscayne National Park: 2021–2022 nesting year summary
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Data Package Version 2 - Biscayne National Park (2009-2024)
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2022)
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2023)
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2024)
- Report of colonial nesting birds in Biscayne National Park for the 2019–2020 nesting year
- SFCN Colonial Nesting Birds Data Package Version 1 - Biscayne (2009-2021)
- Report of colonial nesting birds in Biscayne National Park for the 2016–2017 nesting year
- SFCN Colonial Birds Monitoring Dataset - Biscayne National Park (2009-2018)
- Report of Colonial Nesting Birds in Biscayne National Park for the 2015-2016 Nesting Year
- South Florida Wading Bird Report (Volume 27)
- South Florida Wading Bird Report (Volume 26)
- South Florida Wading Bird Report (Volume 25)
- South Florida Wading Bird Report (Volume 24)
- South Florida Wading Bird Report (Volume 23)
- South Florida Wading Bird Report (Volume 21)
- South Florida Wading Bird Report (Volume 20)
- Spatial and temporal patterns of double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) breeding over nine years in Biscayne National Park, Florida
- Wading Birds (Wood Stork & White Ibis)
- Wading Birds (Roseate Spoonbill)
- Biscayne National Park colonial nesting birds monitoring protocol, v. 1.00