Irruptive Bird Survey Instructions
There are
three parts to this survey.
1. Who are you and how long were you birding?
2. Which species, and how many of each did
you see?
If you observed them feeding, what they were feeding on?
3. In what kind of habitat did you see the
birds?
What was
the wild food abundance in the area you saw the birds?
Who are you and how long were you
birding?
To make the most of your data in
our analyses, we need to know the effort you put in to locating the
birds you are reporting. Please tell us your starting time and
duration, and whether you went for a walk or birded from a fixed
point (such as at a bird feeder). Please provide us with your e-mail
address just in case we have a question about your submission.
Which species, and how many of each did
you see? As we find out more about this season's bird movements we will be adding more species to the Irruptive Bird Survey list. When additions have been made, we will post notices so that you can find
out about them. Currently, we have included: Varied Thrush Clark's Nutcracker Bohemian Waxwing Cedar Waxwing Red-breasted Nuthatch Pine Grosbeak Purple Finch American Goldfinch Pine Siskin Common Redpoll Hoary Redpoll Red Crossbill White-winged Crossbill Evening Grosbeak
If you observed them feeding, what they were feeding on?
From the list provided, tell us
how many of each species you observed during the time you indicated
in the previous section. We would also like to know what the birds were eating.
If you observed them feeding, please use the pull down menu to
select the food category that best describes what you observed.
In what kind of habitat did you see the
birds? Habitat. Check each habitat category that describes your site. You may select more than one habitat category to best describe your site.
Assessing wild food abundance. We would like to find out what types and how much food is available at your site. Please follow the procedure outlined below to determine the availability of each food type.
Conifer Cones
Use your binoculars to look for conifer cones at the tops of trees, then use these guidelines to categorize what you see:
Important! Do not use number of cones found on the ground as an indicator of abundance.
Hardwood Tree Seeds
Use your binoculars to look for seeds at the tops of trees, then use these guidelines to categorize what you see: Weed Seeds
Follow these guidelines to assess the abundance of the weed seeds in your region: Fruits and berries Mountain Ash, Crabapple, and many ornamental plantings produce fruits and berries.
Follow these guidelines to assess the abundance of fruits and berries in your region:
What was the wild food abundance in the area you saw the
birds?
We would like to know why birds irrupt into the areas where you are reporting them. For each birding site that you entered, please fill out the habitat type and wild food abundance section. Do this only once for each site.
Determine the most common types of conifers at your site.
Look for alders, birch, beech, oak, and maple at your location and determine what type is most common.
If you have fields at your site, look at the weedy plants and determine if there are many small seeds on the plants. In the East, a good example would be marigold.
Look for trees and shrubbery at your site that produce fruits or berries.