Bird Study Trial in NC Triangle Area

[Marsha Stephens <stephens@mail.fpg.unc.edu>]

Below is information describing a bird survey planned by Dean
Urban at Duke.  He is wanting to attempt a trial run in
coordinating this regional, volunteer-based bird census project
this summer. He would also like individuals who want to
participate next spring to contact the project.  Initial interest
has been expressed by New Hope Audubon, Chapel Hill Bird Club and
Wake Audubon, but no organized effort is underway at this time. 
More descriptive information, including who to contact, is
available at:

http://www.env.duke.edu/landscape/research/triangle/birds/birds.html


The Landscape Ecology Lab in the Nicholas School at Duke is
engaged
in a long-term study of the causes and consequences of land use
change in the Triangle. One aim of the study is to assess the
conservation value of forest patches in a landscape increasingly
fragmented by development. Our primary focus in this assessment
is
forest birds, particularly those neotropical migrants that have
been
used as indicators of forest health.

Our approach to assessing conservation value of forest patches
relies
on simulation models and analytic methods derived from graph
theory,
supported by a GIS database including a 20-year time series of
classified Thematic Mapper satellite imagery. A crucial component
of
our study will be to verify the model predictions with
on-the-ground bird censuses. It is for this component of the
study that we would
like to engage interested birders in the Triangle.

Our plan is to deploy a large number of volunteer birders to
conduct
censuses in preselected forest patches throughout the Triangle.
Tentatively, we plan to post census maps on our website and to
choreograph census activities through a small committee of local
Audubon chapter leaders and researchers from UNC, NCSU, and Duke.
Further information will be disseminated by this committee as our
plans take shape.


Posted by:
Marsha Stephens
North Chatham County, NC
stephens@mail.fpg.unc.edu