Bird Census Techniques

Second Edition

Colin J. Bibby
BirdLife International
Neil D. Burgess
Danish Centre for Tropical Biodiversity
David A. Hill
Ecoscope Applied Ecologists
Simon Mustoe
Ecoscope Applied Ecologists

Illustrated by Sandra Lambton, RSPB and Simon Mustoe

INTERNATIONAL Ecoscope [ Applied Ecologists

British Trust for Ornithology

ACADEMIC PRESS
A Harcourt Science and Technology Company
London • San Diego • New York
Boston • Sydney 'Tokyo 'Toronto
Contents

Acknowledgements v
About the Authors vii
Preface to the Second Edition xvii

1. Purpose and Design in Counting Birds

Introduction 1
Why is bird censusing important? 1
Choosing a method 3
Counting birds 4
Distribution studies 5
Population monitoring 10
Assessment of habitats for birds IS
Management experiments 14
Conclusions 16
Summary and points to consider 18
1. What is the purpose of the study? 18
2. What are the field methods? 18
3. Do the methods suit the purpose ? 18
4. Sample sizes? 18
5. How will the data be analysed? 18

2. Census Errors - —
Introduction 22
Precision 24
Accuracy - 30
Sources of bias 33
1. The observer 33
2. Census method 33
3. Effort and speed 34
4. Habitat 35
5. Bird species 36
6. Bird density 37
7. Bird activity 37
8. Season 38
9. Time of day 39
10. Weather 39
X Contents

Summary and points to consider 40

1. Precision 40
2. Accuracy 41

3. Territory Mapping Methods

Introduction 42
Field methods 43
1. Siting study plots 43
2. Time and route of visits 44
3. Bird recording 46
4. Habitat recording 49
Variations of the method 49
1. Restricting the list of species covered 49
2. Eliciting responses 49
3. Consecutiveflush 50
4. Nest-finding 50
5. Marked birds 50
6. The full study 50
Interpretation of results 51
1. Introduction 51
2. Minimum requirements for a cluster 52
3. Dotted and solid lines 53
4. Multiple sightings 54
5. Superfluous registrations 56
6. Large or diffuse clusters 56
7. Spurious clusters 57
8. Colonial or non-territorial species 58
9. Edge clusters 59
Assumptions 60
1. The observer is good at finding and identifying birds 60
2. Records are plotted accurately 61
3. The standard rules are used, or broken selectively 61
4. Birds live in pairs infixed, discrete and non-overlapping ranges 61
5. There is a reasonable chance of detecting a territory holder 61
Examples of the use of territory mapping 62
1. Population monitoring in Britain 62
2. The distribution of birds in coppiced woodland in relation to
vegetation age 63
Summary and points to consider 64

4. Line Transects
Introduction 65
Field methods 66
1. Routes, visiting rate and travel speed 66
2. Field recording 68
3. Distance measuring 68
4. Special variants 71
Contents xi

Methods of surveying using line transects 73

1. Fixed width strip transects 73
2. Distances grouped into two intervals 74
3. Full distance measuring 74
Assumptions 81
1. Birds exactly on the route are all detected 81
2. Birds do not move before detection 81
3. Distances are measured accurately 82
4. Individual birds are counted only oncefrom the same line 82
5. Individual birds are detected independently 82
6. Observer and seasonal effects 83
Examples of the use of line transects 83
1. Population monitoring in winter in Finland 83
2. BTO/RSPB/fNCC National Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) 84
3. Distribution of birds in the North Sea 86
4. Habitat of shrub-steppe birds in the USA 88
Summary and points to consider 90

5. Point Counts and Point Transects

Introduction 91
What do densities derived using point count methods mean? 93
Field methods 95
1. Selection of points 95
2. Duration of counts 95
3. The recording method 97
4. Distance estimates 98
Methods of surveying using point count methods 101
1. Fixed radius or point counts 101
2. Distances grouped into two intervals 102
3. Exact distance measurement 102
Assumptions 102
1. Birds do not approach the observer, or flee 102
2. • -Birds.are 100% detectable at the observer's location 103
3. Birds do not move-from their 'snapshot' location before detection 103
4. Birds behave independently of one another 103
5. Violations of the above assumptions do not interact with habitat or
elements of study design 104
6. Distance estimates are accurate 105
7. Birds arefully and correctly identified 105
Examples of the use of point count methods 105
1. Densities of restricted range loivland birds of Buru, Indonesia 105
2. Monitoring breeding birds in theUSA 107
3. Estimating the range and abundance of the Azores Bullfinch 109
4. Studying the effects of vegetation in young forestry plantations 110
Summary and points to consider 112
xii Contents

6. Relative Measures for Bird Communities in Habitats with

High Species Richness
Introduction 113
1. Large number of species 113
2. Many species at low densities 113
3. Unknown seasonality 113
4. Varying lifestyles 114
5. Low catling rates 114
6. Dense vegetation and difficult access 114
Rationale for some simpler methods 115
Finding birds 116
1. Prior knowledge and expectation 116
2. Learning the birds 116
3. Indigenous and local knoivledge 116
4. Time of day and season 116
5. Micro habitats 117
6. Altitude 117
7. Fruit, flowers 117
8. Vantage points 117
9. Flocks 117
10. Mist nets 117
11. Tape recording and playback 118
Controlling effort 118
1. Encounter rates 118
2. Timed lists 119
3. X species (McKinnon) lists 122
4. Area counts 124
5. Which method to choose ? 125
Estimation of species richness 126
Assumptions 127
1. Observers are adequately and comparably skilful 127
2. Birds are correctly identified 127
3. Differences in detectabUity have been ignored 128
4. Seasonality has been allowed for 128
5. Methodological details are comparable 128
Examples 128
1. Distribution, diversity and abundances of birds in East Africa 128
2. Impact of logging on species diversity in Sumatra 129
3. Rapid assessment of Bolivian and Ecuadorian montane avifaunas 130
Summary and points to consider 130

7. Catching and Marking

Introduction 131
Considerations before undertaking catching and marking work 132
Capture-recapture methods 133
Assumptions 136
1. The population is either closed or immigration and emigration can be
measured or calculated 136
2. There is equal probability of capture in thefirst capture event 136
3. The marked birds should not be affected by being marked 136
4. The population should be sampled randomly in subsequent capture events 137
5. The marks should be permanent 137
6. All marked individuals occurring in the second or subsequent samples are
reported 137
7. Capture probabilities are assumed constant for all periods 137
8. Every bird in the population has the same probability of being caught in
sample i 137
9. Every marked bird in the population has the same probability of
surviving from sampling periods i to i + 1 137
10. Every bird caught in sample i has the same probability of being returned
to the population 138
11. All samples are taken instantaneously such that sampling time is
negligible 138
12. Losses to the population from emigration and death are permanent 138
13. Population closed to recruitment only 138
Estimating population size 138
1. The simple Lincoln index 138
2. The du Feu method 141
3. Other methods with more than two sampling occasions 143
Methods based on catch per unit effort 144
1. Where ringing effort is standardised 144
2. Where ringing effort is not known 147
Mist netting for censusing forest birds 150
Further developments of studies involving capture 151
1. Modelling with birth and survival rates-the matrix model 151
2. Radio-telemetry 151
Summary and points to consider 154

8. Counting Individual Species

Introduction 155
Directcounts 155
1. Great Crested Grebe _ 156
2. Red Grouse 156
3. Grey Partridge 156
4. Lapwing 157
Indirect counts 160
1. Waterfowl dropping counts 160
Look-see counts 161
1. Divers 161
2. Mute Swan 163
3. Golden Eagle 165
4. Spamrwhawk 165
5.- Raven 165
Developments of look-see methodology into formally randomised
population studies 166
Vocal individuality counts 166
xiv Contents

Counts using a birds association with another species 168

1. Birds and monkeys 168
2. Birds and ants 168
3. Birds and habitat features 168
Nest searches 169
Tree colony coun ts 169
1. Grey Heron 169
Soaring counts 170
1. Car counts of raptors 170
2. Common Buzzard 171
Playback counts 171
1. North American road counts 171
2. Stone curlew 171
3. Storm petrel 171
Roosting counts 172
1. Hen Harrier 172
2. Parrots 172
Dog counts 172
1. Red Grouse 173
2. Capercaillie 173
Shooting counts 173
Lekking counts 173
1. Capercaillie 173
2. Black Grouse 175
Driving/flushing counts 175
1. Capercaillie 175
2. Nestingducks 176
Nocturnal and crepuscular species counts 176
1. Woodcock 176
2. Tawny Owl 176
3. Barn Owl 178
4. European Nightjar 178
Dense grass-dominated vegetation species counts 178
1. Water Rail - 178
2. Little Grebe 178
3. European Bittern 179
4. Ducks 179
5. Corncrake 180
6. Snipe 180
7. Redshank 180
8. Dunlin 181
9. Curlew and Whimbrel 181
Summary arid points to consider 182

9. Counting Colonial Nesting, Flocking and Migrating Birds

Introduction 183
Counting breeding colonies 183
Preparatory stages 183
Contents xv

1. Description of study area 184

2. Description of breeding colony 184
3. Selection of counting method 185
4. Assessment of risk to counters 185
Counting methods for cliff-nesting seabirds 186
1. Direct counts 189
2. Corrected direct counts 190
3. Counts from photographs 191
4. Counts of birds on the sea 192
Counting methods for ground-nesting seabirds 192
1. Direct counts 193
2. Transect counts 195
3. Quadrat counts 195
4. Flushing counts 196
Counts of burrow-nesting seabirds 197
1. Sampling methods 199
2. Mark-recapture methods 199
Monitoring populations 200
Counting flocking and migrating birds 200
A) Flocks of waders, wildfowl and other waterbirds 200
1. Initial stages 202
2. Survey methods 203
3. Counting flocks 206
4. Counting roosts 209
5. Counting foraging birds 210
6. Errors in estimating sizes of flocks 210
B) Mixed and single-species flocks in tropical forests 211
C) Counting migrants 212
1. Large diurnal migrating species 212
2. Smaller nocturnally migrating species 213
Summary and points to consider 214
1. Breeding seabird colonies 214
2. Flocking birds 215
3. Migrating birds 215

10. Distribution Studies

Introduction 216
Adas studies 218
1. Considerations of scale 218
2. Effect of grid size on species diversity 221
3. Using historical information 222
4. Planning an atlas 224
Examples of adases 225
1. The atlas of wintering birds in Britain and Ireland 225
2. The atlas of wintering North American birds 227
3. The atlas of the birds of the Netherlands 229
4. The raptor grid scheme of Finland 230
5. The South African Bird Atlas 230
xvi Contents

6. The atlas of breeding birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-1991 230

Single-species studies 232
Habitat-scale studies 233
1. Bird registrations and habitat types 234
2. Nest distribution patterns 235
3. Radio-telemetry 237
Examples of the use of distribution studies 239
1. Estimating population size 239
2. Relating distribution to environmental data 242
3. Conservation evaluation 245
4. Effects of weather 248
5. Identifying partial migration 249
6. Irruptive species 249
Summary and points to consider 249

11. Description and Measurement of Bird Habitat

Introduction 250
Habitat maps and habitat modelling 253
1. Use of habitat maps 253
2. Use of habitat maps derived from ground surveys 256
3. Use of habitat maps from topographic and aerial photographs 256
Modelling distributions using habitat variables 257
1. Modelling species' distributional range 258
2. Modelling species populations 259
Measuring habitat variables in sample plots 259
Grassland habitat variables 260
1. Habitat preferences of breeding birds of North American prairies counted
using mapping methods 260
2. Habitat preferences of probing wetland waders in Great Britain counted
using specialised counting methods 262
Woodlands and scrub 265
1. Circular sample-plot method 266
2. Habitat variables measured in woodlands and scrub 266
3. Effects of shrub layer density on populations of breeding birds counted
using mapping methods 269
4. Effects of variation of vegetation structure on bird populations of sessile
oakwoods in western Britain, as counted using point counts 272
Individual-based studies 274
1. Radio-marked Partridges on farmlands in Britain 274
2. Radio-marked Woodcock feeding in woodlands and fields 276
Summary and points to consider 277
1. Mapping methods 277
2. Measurement of habitat variables in sample plots 211
3. Measurement of habitat variables at the position of a study bird 277

Appendix 278
References 279
Species Index 296
General Index 299