Cliff Notes

My good friend, Ed, said that even after reading my blog, he still has no idea what I do.

Here's what I do: 

I drive to as close as I can get to the survey site the night before. Sometimes, there are points right on the road and I can roll out of bed at 5:30 the next morning and go right to work. Other times, I have to park many miles away - then wake up early and walk in the dark to get to the point around sunrise. 

End of Road

There are sixteen GPS points arranged in a grid on the survey site. I have to find each point using my Garmin. Each point is 250 meters from the next. 

Walk 250 Meters Straight Through This

Once I find a point, I set my pack down and collect some gross vegetation data. What is the primary habitat? In the Saint Joe, it's Mixed Conifer with Western Red Cedar, Western Larch, Ponderosa Pine, Grand Fir, Douglas Fir, Lodgepole Pine, and Western White Pine. Also, Rocky Mountain Maple, Black Cottonwood, and Alder. I quickly figure out the overstory - which trees dominate within fifty meters of each point and in what density? Write that down.

Then I figure out the shrub layer. Immature conifer, alder, willow, maple, Snowberry, Serviceberry, Wild Rose, etc...

Then the ground cover, about how much grass, herbs, dead and down logs, water, snow, etc...

All this has to do with trying to figure out what kind of nesting habitat birds have in this one little spot. 

Basically, more cover equals more birds. 

While collecting the veg data, no more than about five minutes, the birds have a chance to settle down and get used to my presence. 

Then, standing on that one spot, I start the six minute timer and start writing down all the birds I can detect by sight, song, call, and drum.

Most detections are by vocalization; I don't get to see tons of birds.  

When the timer goes off, I pick up my pack and walk to the next point. I get as many points done as I can before five hours after sunrise, walk back to the car, and drive to the next survey site, sometimes several hours away. That night, I enter my data and next time I'm near internet, I submit it. 

That's my day.