North Coast and Cascades Network landbird monitoring: Report for the 2008 field season

Wilkerson, Robert; Siegel, Rodney; Kuntz, Robert

2008 was the second year of full implementation for the landbird monitoring program in the North Coast Cascades Network (NCCN). The NCCN landbird monitoring protocol requires annual survey effort consisting of an annual panel (34 transects) plus one of five alternating panels (an additional 34 transects) in the large parks—Mount Rainier National Park (MORA), North Cascades National Park Service Complex (NOCA), or Olympic National Park (OLYM)—and the completion of a grid of survey points at either of the smaller parks—San Juan Island National Historical Park (SAJH) or Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (LEWI)—which are surveyed in alternating years. In 2008 we surveyed the annual panel along with the second rotating panel in the large parks, along with the point grid in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. In 2008 we conducted 910 point counts at point count survey stations located along 63 transects in the three large parks. Five of the 68 intended transects could not be surveyed due to a combination of unusually late lingering snow pack preventing access to survey areas and unseasonably rainy weather slowing survey progress in July. We detected 102 bird species in the three large parks, 85 of which were detected during one or more point counts. For 56 species (all species detected at least 12 times on annual-panel transects between 2005 and 2008), we present the total number of detections on annual-panel transects in each park during the 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 field seasons. We caution, however, that these detection totals have not been adjusted for differences in survey effort or potential differences in detectability of birds between years; such adjustments will be made in conjunction with trend analyses in our five-year report. At LEWI, we conducted 68 point counts, including 29 at Fort Clatsop, 34 at Cape Disappointment, and five at Sunset Beach. Fifty-seven species were detected during those point counts. We present the number of detections, and the number of points with detections, for each species detected during point counts at LEWI. The NCCN landbird monitoring program has had another successful year, with a comprehensive, field-tested protocol, two years of annual-panel data collected during the protocol development phase (2005 and 2006), and two full years of project implementation (2007 and 2008), including data collection on the annual panel as well as the first two alternating panels. Preliminary results indicate we will have robust sample sizes for many species in 2011 when we conduct our 5-year trend analysis, and that we are detecting substantial annual fluctuations in bird populations. These fluctuations, when analyzed in the context of annual weather variation and perhaps other factors, may yield interesting and useful findings about the drivers of population trends of birds of Pacific Northwest forests

North Coast and Cascades Network landbird monitoring: Report for the 2008 field season

Series

Collections