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The Cayuga Bird Club is collaborating with Cornell Lab to survey grassland birds at several properties belonging to Cornell University (CU) and Finger Lakes Land Trust (FLLT).
The survey protocol involves 3-band point counts at between four to eight pre-determined points at each site, to be conducted between dawn and 10am. Data will be reported via eBird. The survey runs from mid May to mid July.
If you would like to participate, please contact Suan Yong (suan.yong@gmail.com).
Before going out in the field, follow the instructions on this page on a computer (not the phone).
Focal Species
Focal Species
The survey has seven focal species:
Bobolink
Eastern Meadowlark
Grasshopper Sparrow
Horned Lark
Red-winged Blackbird
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Though observations of other noteworthy grassland species should be recorded, including:
American Kestrel
American Pipit
Golden-winged Warbler
Henslow's Sparrow
Northern Harrier
Sedge Wren
Short-eared Owl
Vesper Sparrow
Interesting non-grassland species, like Brown Thrasher, Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow, and Indigo Bunting, can be excluded from the survey.
Survey Protocol
Survey Protocol
Step 1: Choose project PROALAS and Stationary (3 band) observation type.
If you do not see the PROALAS project, go to the PROALAS project page https://ebird.org/projects/1047/about and join the project, then go to the eBird app's Settings -> Check for updates.
Step 2: Navigate to the GPS location
This can be done using eBird or Google Maps.
To navigate in eBird:
When on site, start a dummy eBird checklist and immediately stop it
Click ‘Choose a location’
Navigate on the map to the count location
For Google Maps, see detailed instructions below.
Step 3: Wait for birds to settle, prepare your eBird checklist
Wait 2 minutes for the birds to settle, remaining as motionless as possible to minimize the disturbance caused by your presence. While waiting, you can prepare the eBird checklist as follows.
Start an eBird checklist at the location and immediately stop it. Make sure the project is PROALAS and protocol is Stationary (3 band, 30m+100m).
Share the checklist with user cugrasslands. If you are alone, increase the number of observers to 2, which will reveal the "share checklist" option, and share it with cugrasslands. After that, change the number of observers back to 1.
Add a comment with approximate height of grass (in feet) and whether it has been mowed this season.
When you are ready to start the point count, adjust the start time.
Step 4: Do the point count (5 mins)
For 5 minutes count all focal grassland bird species and assign them to distance bands. If an individual bird moves across multiple distance bands, report them in the band where it was first detected.
Band 1: within 30 m (within 100 ft)
Band 2: within 30-100 m (within 100 – 300 ft)
Band 3: beyond 100 m (beyond 300 ft)
Be sure to look for birds within the entire circle. I.e., do not stay facing in one direction.
Do your best to keep track of the movements of individuals so that you are not recording the same individual bird multiple times.
If you happen to see any breeding behaviors, write them in the comments section for the species (not the comment section of the checklist). Report all breeding codes in the comments section, separating individual observations by commas. For example, if you saw two individuals carrying nesting material, and one copulation, write in the comments “2 NB, 1 C” – so although the copulation involves two birds, it counts as one behavioral observation. Breeding codes with evidence equal to or weaker than singing (F, H, S, S7, M) can be ignored.
Step 5: share your checklists with the project account
Share your checklists with user cugrasslands.
Using Google Maps
Using Google Maps
The following maps can be useful for looking at survey sites:
The map shows survey points, along with a 100m circle around each, plus other notable landmarks.
While the "All Sites" map gives a nice overview, it can be annoying to use in the field, as it zooms out to the greater Ithaca area each time. Using a site-specific map can be more convenient. You can either come to this page and click the appropriate link, or add them as favorites as follows.
If you live in the Googlesphere, go to a computer web browser (not a phone), open each map above, and mark it as a "favorite" by clicking the little star indicated by the green arrow below:
Thereafter, you can find this map on your smartphone's Google Maps app by tapping "You" at the bottom, scroll down all the way towards the bottom, and select the Maps icon to the right.
Scheduling
Scheduling
For 2025 we will be targeting three survey windows:
May 15-25: early courtship season - target 1 survey per site
June 7-15: hatched (before CU mowing) - target 1 survey per site
June 28-July 6: post fledge (maximal CF activity) - target 2 surveys per site
More visits are always better, including outside the target windows.
Please send a short email to Suan whenever you think you might want visit a site.
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