General Protocol: Recommendations and Tips

Based on our experiences and comments from past BFL participants, we have compiled a few suggestions to help you conduct the protocol more smoothly.

• Safety—Carry a map and compass to remote study sites, and let others know where you are working. Refer to Appendix C for a list of items you will need to take with you in the field.

• Time of day to survey—Early morning is the best time for surveying, but forest birds are also active during the evening. They may even sing throughout the day early in the breeding season.

• Observation technique—To detect birds during your surveys, we suggest that you continually scan for movement, concentrating on the area from the ground up to the canopy while listening for vocalizations. If surveying for woodpeckers, listen for drumming noises.

• Work in teams—One person can conduct the protocol; however, the study is easier and more efficient with at least two surveyors. We recommend working in teams of two to four observers—one person records data while the others look and listen for the study species. More than four observers in a group can cause confusion and may deter birds from approaching. It works well to divide the duties of recording data and broadcasting the playbacks. Conversation is minimized if the person in charge of playbacks is also the time keeper. Two observers facing opposite directions can visually scan 360 degrees around the survey point and thereby detect birds that one observer might miss.

• Allow a settle-down period—Upon arriving at your pre-designated survey point, we suggest that you stand quietly for at least one to two minutes to allow the birds to settle down from the disturbance of your entry and resume their normal activity.

• Use a CD player— Cassette tapes are no longer available to project participants. CDs are much easier for learning vocalizations and conducting field playbacks since you don’t have to fast forward and rewind, but merely select a track number. We suggest investing in a portable CD player with a detachable amplified speaker.

• Make a customized tape—If you do not have a CD player, you can make copies of the CD onto a tape for field use only, but we ask that you report to us how many you make so that we have a file of authorized copies. You can simply notify us that you’ve copied the recordings when you return your data forms. Here are two suggestions for creating tapes for surveying multiple species:

- Record the pertinent tracks on a tape in the order in which you will survey for the species. This works best if you are surveying for the same species at all your BFL sites.

- Copy each species’ recordings onto a separate tape. This works best if you are not surveying for the same species at all your BFL sites; the recordings of each species will be readily accessible at any time.

• Set tape prior to survey—It is helpful to set your tape(s) to the appropriate species prior to beginning your survey. Rewind the tape as you travel to your next study site or during the settle-down period.

• Turn speaker in four directions—To project the recorded vocalizations throughout your study-site area, we recommend that you broadcast the playback in all four compass directions, using the intervals between songs/calls to turn the speaker.

• Surveying hawks and other species at the same study site—when surveying for hawks and other species during the same visit, be sure to broadcast the non-hawk playbacks before playing the hawk calls. These other species can become alarmed by the hawk calls and may not respond if they believe a hawk is in the area.