Delineating your study sites

figure 1

Study site with survey point at its center
E Distance to nearest edge
R Distance to nearest road
W Distance to nearest water
B Distance to nearest occupied building
I “Isolation”—Distance to nearest other
forest patch of at least 100 acres (40 hectares).
Nest found within a study site—use a Nest
Record Card to record information about this nest
Nest found outside study sites—use a Nest
Record Card to record information about this nest

Each survey point that you have identified and marked will become the center of a 500-foot-radius (150-meter) circular study site (see Figure 1). All of your surveying and subsequent observations of breeding behaviors will take place within this study site, and you will describe various characteristics of the vegetation within the 500-foot-radius (150-meter) circle. You may want to pace off 500 feet (150 meters) from the survey point to get a feel for the size of this circle. You should place a few markers with flagging at the periphery of the circle, 500 feet (150 meters) from the center point, that delineate the boundaries of the study site.