Abundance Sampling

For the first time ever we will employ survey methods developed and field-tested for use in the 2nd PBBA. Specifically, we will be collecting data for assessing the abundance and habitat associations for approximately 70 to 100 species in Pennsylvania. This work will primarily be accomplished by paid assistants with grants from the Wild Resource Conservaton Fund (WRCF). In each of the five years of the survey, from late May to June, we will conduct standardized early morning point counts according to protocols developed expressly for the 2nd Atlas project, in part, through a WRCF grant to Robert P. Brooks at Penn State's Cooperative Wetlands Center (Project title: Design and survey protocols for the 2nd Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas). Execution of these protocols, tailored to meet the objective of assessing abundance for breeding birds across the state (as well as assessing the primary habitat associations for selected species), is a very important added dimension of data collection compared to the 1st Atlas project.

Point counts will be conducted by the field assistants along predetermined "mini-routes" comprised of eight randomly selected, geospatially referenced, roadside points per block, spaced at least 0.5 miles apart within the roughly 4,700 Atlas blocks that are fully contained within the state's boundaries. At each point each observer will compile a list of all species detected in five successive time periods lasting one minute and fifteen seconds. This is a comparatively new methodology which provides data that can be used to compare detection probabilities across species and observers, thereby leading to more accurate characterizations of relative abundance within and across species (Farnsworth, G. L., et al. 2002. "A removal model for estimating detection probabilities from point-count surveys." Auk 119:414-425.).