Migration Monitoring through the

Partners in Flight Program

Southeast Partners in Flight and the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory are jointly sponsoring, and urge all bird observers to participate in, a migration monitoring project. We have received communications urging participation from Bob Ford and Roger Tankersley in Tennessee, Mark Johns in North Carolina and, of course, the GCBO. This is not a difficult monitoring program and can be conducted in a good birding area not far from one's home. The area must be small enough to be covered in less than four hours and, naturally, it is preferable to start as early in the day as practicable. A copy of the instructions and monitoring form is appended and can be downloaded from this website.

The designated migration count seasons are somewhat longer than one might be able to cover, but counts for fewer weeks are certainly acceptable. Observers can pool their observations of the same area. Thus, because of conservation and other commitments, Greg Harber and I conducted fall migration monitoring counts in 1999 in the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, with each of us going every other week. That was acceptable, as long as you cover the same area. Our route basically took between 2 and 22 hours, so could be completed early in a working day and, thus, did not require weekend time. We began on August 15 but continued through the end of October when we had several migrant sparrows. Beginning the spring migration monitoring on April 1 or 15 rather than March 20 would seem satisfactory.

The instructions state that a separate list should be used for each day, but that assumes you are using the list as a field sheet. I kept my field observations on small sheets of paper that were conveniently accessible, then transcribed the totals by typing them in on a single field sheet. You can do this by lining through the headings for numbers of individuals and totals, and using those blanks for five different counts. Perhaps, by using the right margin, you could get six on one sheet. This does give a capsule of the season's migration and was acceptable by GCBO. When using a sheet for more than one count, however, you need to use more space for the weather data, but that can be done by typing that data on both sides of the Partners in Flight logo at the top of the first page.

This program has been in effect since 1996, so Alabama needs a greater effort to increase its coverage. GCBO is developing a computer database, which is expected to be completed this year. Thus, there will be an available central file of these counts from all over the Southeast. Your assistance, therefore, will be greatly appreciated since the more counts, the more statistically significant the results will be.

Bob Reid, for

SE Partners in Flight