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Background

Flock In the Northeast, dozens of state, federal, and nongovernmental organizations operate hundreds of bird monitoring programs. Results have been used to guide conservation, research, and management actions throughout the region. Although some effort at alignment has been made in recent years, most programs operate independently. The lack of coordination has resulted in redundant data collection, inconsistent field protocols, and flawed survey designs. Meanwhile, several high-priority species and habitats receive little or no monitoring attention. A coordinated approach is needed to better address bird conservation and management issues in the region.

peregrine falcon The Northeast Coordinated Bird Monitoring partnership will develop and implement a regional bird monitoring framework that will assist state wildlife departments, federal natural resource agencies, and other organizations in improving the coordination and effectiveness of their monitoring efforts. This initiative will catalogue existing bird surveys, build consensus on monitoring priorities, and implement needed new programs in US Fish and Wildlife Service Region 5. It will draw on bird conservation plans and state wildlife action plans to identify key management issues that can be addressed through monitoring.

Annual workshops will afford opportunities for coordination among existing surveys, while enabling program biologists to consult with leading statisticians on matters of survey design and analysis. The project’s website will provide easily accessible resources for coordinating bird surveys across the region, including an innovative data management system. saltmarsh sharp-tailed This system, to be administered by the Avian Knowledge Network at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, will feature a secure data archive, owner-specified access, and several options for data display and analysis. By providing new tools and collaborative opportunities, the Northeast Coordinated Bird Monitoring Project will help build the fundamental basis for science-based bird conservation in the Northeast.

Photos: top - Black Skimmer flock by USFWS; middle - Peregrine Falcon by Dave Kynor; bottom - Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow by Greg Shriver

The Northeast Coordinated Bird Monitoring partnership is administered by American Bird Conservancy in collaboration with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The project was developed by Northeast Partners In Flight, Northeast Shorebird Conservation Plan and Mid-Atlantic/New England/Maritimes Waterbird Conservation Plan, in concert with the US North American Bird Conservation Initiative's Monitoring Subcommittee. It is made possible by a Multistate Conservation Grant awarded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, with assistance from the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. We gratefully acknowledge the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Programs of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which funds the Multistate Conservation Program.