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Community Science
One of the easiest ways to participate in community science projects is by reporting your sightings to bird researchers.
“Birds are everywhere. No one scientist can track them all, but with YOUR HELP, researchers can study population fluctuations, migration patterns, changes in range, and many other facets of birds. Pooling our collective knowledge gives us the POWER to make the smartest policies to protect our birds.” – Georgia Audubon
Annual Christmas Bird Count – February 2022
by Susan Murphy and Robert Rommel
Link to article in The State “Annual Bird Count Helps Develop Science, Conservation Policies in South Carolina.”
Motus Update – January 2022
by Bob Speare
Since the Last Motus Update in the November , our Hilton Head Island Motus receiver station has been connected to the Motus system and is ready to begin detecting data from passing tagged birds and other animals. With our station pointing directly out to the Atlantic, we are positioned very well to capture data from a number of birds moving up and down our coast during their seasonal migrations.
Having a station connected to the Motus system, means we join about 1300 other stations in an important collaborative effort to learn more about the movements of birds and other animals across the landscape. Any group(s) conducting research with the use of Motus NanoTags has access to data collected from our station to help them connect the dots and form a clear picture of where their research animals have traveled and when. Additionally, we can now access to the data our station collects through the motus.org website. It’s very easy to access this and I’ve provided a quick step-by-step video here.
Now that we have an active station up and running, what are some of the next steps for us with Motus?
Well, first and foremost, I’m very excited to see what species are detected by our station, and I’ll be sure to provide regular updates.
Another important next step for me is developing educational information for both schools and adults to help people understand the importance of learning about the movements of birds and other animals and the specific locations they visit during these migrations.
Additionally, SC Audubon, who oversees many of the Motus towers in South Carolina, and who also provided funding for our station, is in the process of applying for Motus funding to support more Motus opportunities in South Carolina. It will be important to continue our strong collaboration with SC Audubon as we consider other ways that we may wish to be involved in future Motus projects.
Lastly, I recently gave a presentation at the HH Audubon meeting on January 13. In it, I described some of the ways we’ve been tracking birds over the years, and some of the technologies that are being used today, including Motus. A condensed version of this presentation is available here.
Motus Update – November 2021
by Bob Speare
After almost two years of starts and stops related to location negotiations, Covid delays, equipment supply chain challenges, and staff turnovers at our host site, I am very pleased to announce that our Motus receiver is up and running! With tremendous support from our friends at Marriott’s Grande Ocean Resort on South Forest Beach Drive, our receiver station is mounted on the roof of a five story building facing directly out to the Atlantic Ocean. Matt King from South Carolina DNR assembled all the pieces, and together he and I installed the two VHF antennas and the electronics needed to collect signals from birds, bats, and even butterflies and dragonflies carrying tiny nano-transmitters. (Approximate direction and antenna range is shown in red on the map below.) The final step in the setup will be connecting our receiver to the Motus system so that any project using tagged animals will be able to access the information we receive. This should be completed within the next couple of weeks.
What this means is that Hilton Head Audubon has now joined roughly 1300 other receiver stations on four continents collecting important information on bird movement. As tagged birds fly by we are contributing location-based data related to the specific migration routes and timing of each individual bird. Additionally, we are collecting information on the movements of our local populations of breeding and overwintering birds.
Motus not only offers incredible data to researchers, but a wonderful educational opportunity as well. We can use the information we collect to help people of all ages learn more about how this technology plays a critical role in bird conservation. In our next phase of this project, we will develop educational materials which can be used both at schools and local public venues to illustrate the important information we learn from this technology.
As you can see from the map below, between the various local groups involved, our coastline is now pretty well covered with receivers. One of the goals here in South Carolina is to create a greater Motus presence inland to help us learn about bird populations away from the coast too. There will be opportunity for Hilton Head Audubon to take part in this effort by working with South Carolina Audubon and others to determine the best location for a second station we can installed. We’ll keep you informed as this opportunity develops.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who made this project possible through your generous contribution. A special thanks also to South Carolina Audubon for their support of this project, and their continued support of Motus statewide.
Please visit www.motus.org to see the growing number of receivers as well as learn about the many projects underway using the Motus technology.
Chuck Will’s-Widow – Where Are You?
by Alan Biggs and Bob Speare
Photography by Mary Alice Tatler
Nightjars, (also known as goatsuckers due to their habit of swooping among herds to pick up insects, giving farmers the impression they were after their milk), are one of the most enigmatic group of birds in North America. Very little is known about the basic aspects of their biology, habitat use, and population status due to their cryptically nocturnal lifestyle. We write “cryptic” in the ecological sense of the word because this group of mainly insectivorous birds appears to have a knack for avoiding detection, and thus our ability to study it, at night. While we have at least three species of Nightjars in the Lowcountry, i.e., Common Night Hawk, Whip-Poor-Will, and Chuck-Will’s-Widow (CWWI); the latter is the most common here and its call is easily recognized.
In recent years, conservationists and the public have come to share a general sense that populations of Nightjars are dramatically declining, perhaps in large part to a decline in insect populations. However, there were no standardized data available to help describe these changes or to help with reversing population losses. The Nightjar Survey Network was established in 2007 by The Center for Conservation Biology. This survey program was created to gain a better understanding of population status by implementing a standardized approach across the country that will help determine the magnitude and scale of population changes so a course for conservation may be plotted. The Nightjar Survey Network relies entirely on volunteer participation. The program is coordinated by The Center for Conservation Biology at a national level with the help of partner organizations at state and local levels. Currently, there are 9 survey sites in South Carolina. We are hoping our preliminary work will lead to creation of a survey route on Hilton Head Island or other parts of Beaufort County.
Nocturnal behaviors of CWWI and other Nightjars are influenced strongly by moonlight. Activities such as calling and foraging increase under bright moonlight conditions and it is thought that breeding may actually be timed with the lunar schedule. We hope to use designed protocols to take advantage of these behaviors by conducting surveys only during bright moonlit nights so detection rates will be higher and more consistent.
CWWI surveys are only conducted one time per year (in the Lowcountry between May 19 and June 2) and are easy to perform. For a typical survey, volunteers conduct roadside counts at night, on scheduled bright moonlit nights, by driving and stopping at 10 points along a predetermined 9-mile route. At each point, the observer counts all CWWI seen or heard during a 6-minute period. No artificial broadcast of the species call is used. When surveying a route, you are gathering information on changes in CWWI populations over time while simultaneously increasing the knowledge on numerical changes in population to the composition of habitats in the landscape.
Because of the structure of Hilton Head Island neighborhoods, with their limited residential access points, we thought we might accomplish a 10-point survey across the area with volunteers listening somewhat simultaneously and then reporting to the local survey coordinators. With this approach we hope to emulate the typical survey described above. For the first exploratory year (2021), we wanted to gauge interest and obtain an estimate of potential volunteer locations. We had also hoped to calculate a rough estimate of the number of CWWI on the island and nearby locations.
What did we learn?
First, we learned that we have an enthusiastic group of 30 volunteers for this project, 27 of the 30 from Hilton Head Island, and we feel confident that we can build a survey route on the island. However, recruiting additional volunteers in some neighborhoods will be needed to ensure more complete coverage of the island in 2022 and beyond.
We had requested that volunteers report listening sessions in which they did not hear any CWWI calls, known as negative encounters. We only received a few reports of no CWWI calls. While it is not very satisfying to listen and not hear anything (and return indoors with only a few mosquito bites to show for your efforts), population size estimates rely on the relative proportions of positive and negative encounters. So, we encourage everyone to participate and let us know that they listened and report whether they heard any calls or not.
One year of data such as we collected in 2021 cannot produce a valid estimate of CWWI on Hilton Head Island, but based upon the data we collected, we feel confident that the areas in which we collected positive encounters, we believe there were approximately 9 to 12 singing males this past spring. We make this determination based on the recommended 1-mile survey distances that reflect approximately an average territory for CWWI.
We will reach out early next spring as we begin to set up a plan for 2022, but if you are interested in helping us learn more about this important nocturnal bird, you can also contact us at communityscience@hiltonheadaudubon.org and we will add you to our list.
Fig. 1. Positive Chuck-Will’s Widow call locations during the period 5/24/2021 to 6/2/2021. Some locations had multiple reports that included both positive and negative listening sessions. A yellow pin indicates at least one positive report.
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