A Semester of Birds
Judi Falk Rice
Abstract—Increasing numbers of people have “A Passion For
Birds” and are interested in volunteering to assist with songbird
monitoring and research. Often these people may not know local
birds or be trained in the sciences. To address the need to provide
local volunteers with adequate training, I developed a semesterlong university course titled “Techniques for Monitoring Songbirds.” The course is a partnership between the Juneau Ranger
District, Tongass National Forest, and University of Alaska Southeast. The university offers the 3-credit biology course each spring
and provides administrative support and classroom facilities. The
U.S. Forest Service provides instructors, materials, and applied
field opportunities. Course objectives are to teach identification of
local birds by sight and sound and to describe and practice monitoring techniques, including mist netting, banding, and point counts.
Over 60 people have participated in the course since 1993. Twenty
or more are currently involved in bird monitoring projects in Juneau
or in other parts of the United States. Monitoring techniques such
as point counts that require excellent visual and auditory identification skills are difficult to teach in one semester. Several seasons
of field work are necessary in addition to the course. Less time
generally is required to train people to assist with banding activities
such as recording banding information. It is important to help
volunteers identify their strengths and provide them a task at which
they can succeed. The investment of time spent training volunteers
is worthwhile because of the benefits achieved by encouraging
community involvement and stewardship.
Juneau is a lovely southeast Alaska community of about
30,000. The city is unique in that access is limited to boat or
plane. As a result, we have a “captive” audience or community from which to draw volunteers! Juneau is Alaska’s
capital, and legislators from throughout the state gather
from January through May. It is also the home of the
regional office for the Alaska Region of the U.S. Forest
Service (USFS). Many other federal agencies, including the
National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS) also have offices in Juneau. The
Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the Department of
Conservation, the Department of Natural Resources, and
other state agencies also reside there. As a result, the city is
home to many people who are in some way involved and
interested in natural resource issues. Many agency individuals eventually retire in Juneau, and they can be a
wonderful source of volunteer assistance, as long as the
volunteer projects are interesting, meaningful, and fun.
In: Bonney, Rick; Pashley, David N.; Cooper, Robert J.; Niles, Larry,
eds. 2000. Strategies for bird conservation: The Partners in Flight planning process; Proceedings of the 3rd Partners in Flight Workshop; 1995
October 1-5; Cape May, NJ. Proceedings RMRS-P-16. Ogden, UT: U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research
Station.
Judi Falk Rice, Backcountry Sports, Atlin BC, Canada.
246
The Alaska Region of the U.S. Forest Service includes the
Chugach and the Tongass National Forests. The Tongass is
a temperate rainforest composed primarily of Sitka spruce,
western hemlock, and in the south, western yellow cedar.
The Tongass seems to draw national attention with many
important resource issues discussed frequently on national
news. The Juneau Ranger District is not only the largest of
11 districts on the Tongass, encompassing over 3.5 million
acres of the 17 million acres national forest, but is also the
largest of all districts in the forest system. Primary resource
activities on the Juneau Ranger District include timber and
minerals management, and increasingly, recreation issues
associated with rapidly increasing tourism. Often and unfortunately, activities such as monitoring migratory landbirds
do not reach the top of the priority list. We depend increasingly on the volunteers who are instrumental in keeping
these types of monitoring activities going.
The University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) was established first as a community college in 1956 and became a
university in 1972. UAS has an enrollment of 611 full-time
and 1,312 part-time students. The high part-time enrollment reflects community interest in continuing education.
The biology program has 33 full-time students, and 2 fulltime and 1 part-time biology faculty. It is part of the School
of Liberal Arts, Sciences, and Education. Administrators are
becoming increasingly interested in offering biology students applied learning opportunities, similar to the requirements of student teachers or interns in the school’s education program. In that program, graduates must have
completed a semester working in the school system with a
master teacher.
Methods _______________________
In 1993, as the Juneau Ranger District became more
involved in Partners in Flight (PIF) activities through participation in Boreal PIF, I approached UAS about teaching
a spring semester course entitled “Techniques for Monitoring Birds.” UAS would provide marketing through its class
bulletin, credit incentive, registration and other administrative support, classroom, and vans for field trips.
I have taught the 200-level, 3-credit biology course for 3
years with an enrollment of 15 students in 1993, 22 students
in 1994, and 28 students in 1995. We meet for 2 hours one
night a week, January through mid-May. The goals of the
course are (1) to increase the awareness of and appreciation
for birds in the Juneau area, (2) to increase awareness of and
interest in monitoring techniques used by the USFS and
other PIF organizations, and (3) to develop a cadre of welltrained and enthusiastic volunteers to assist with birdrelated field work. In addition to songbird monitoring, we also
train people to assist with surveys of Northern Goshawks
(Accipiter gentilis), forest owls, and Marbled Murrelets
(Brachyramphus marmoratus).
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-16. 2000
Objectives for course participants are (1) to identify 60
local birds by sight and sound, (2) to develop an understanding of the ecology of more than 60 local birds, and (3) to
develop an understanding of the techniques used by the
USFS and other PIF organizations to monitor birds.
To help students learn visual and auditory identification,
we use field guides, slides, videos, cassette tapes, and CDs.
The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (CLO) and VIREO
provide wonderful selections of slides of the birds of North
America, from which we select those species we are most
likely to encounter in southeast Alaska. We use pre-recorded
tapes and CDs, and we also contracted the Cornell Library
of Natural Sounds to create a tape with 60 species recorded
in the order they would be discussed in class. A copy of this
tape is given to each student at the beginning of the semester. CLO has also compiled a CD that includes the songs and
calls of most Alaska birds. Development of this CD was made
possible by an interagency effort between the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the USFS, the USFWS, and
other Boreal PIF organizations. This CD is extremely useful,
allowing selection of a specific track with an individual
species recorded on it. Random song and call testing, an
important training technique used in the class, was simplified when this CD became available. The CLO has been
instrumental in providing training materials of excellent
quality, and responsive in addressing training needs with
the development of new products.
Frequent testing, although stressful for students, leads to
the best learning of song and visual identification. Short,
cumulative tests are given at least every other week. This
encourages students to keep up with their learning of new
songs, and to review those species covered earlier in the
semester. Students often depend on the idiosyncrasies of
their training tape (for example, water running in the
background for the American Dipper) rather than characteristics of the species song. Therefore, recordings that
students have not previously heard and recordings from the
field with background noise and songs of multiple species
are used in addition to tests including segments from students’ tapes.
Visual identification ability also is tested. Slides used to
portray and discuss a species in class are available for study
purposes at the university library at all times. Students also
are encouraged to study field guides during winter, and to
spend as much time as possible in the field, particularly
when migrants begin returning in the spring. Visual testing
is accomplished with slides used in class, and additionally,
with pictures that students have not previously seen. Students are encouraged to concentrate on field marks to help
them identify species in a variety of environmental conditions. In addition, because many migrants return by midMay, students are tested in the field later in the semester.
Lectures, assigned readings, and field observation are the
primary tools used to develop an understanding of the
ecology of 60 local birds. Students are responsible for writing
a journal describing at least 2 hours of field observation each
week. Review of student journals offers instructors an opportunity to recommend species-specific readings that enable students to better interpret behaviors and habitat-use
patterns.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-16. 2000
Lectures, assigned readings, and field exercises designed
to teach monitoring techniques are the tools we use to
develop an understanding of the techniques used by the
USFS and other PIF organizations to monitor birds. Inclassroom activities provide the background on the need for
monitoring and research, and the development of techniques that address different questions and hypotheses.
Field activities provide time for repetitive practice of techniques including mist netting and banding, conducting point
counts, inventorying for forest owls and raptors, and conducting Christmas Bird Counts, Project FeederWatch counts,
Breeding Bird Surveys, area searches, and a variety of other
inventory and monitoring activities. In addition, scientists
conducting local research participate as guest speakers.
Conclusions ____________________
Identifying birds by sight and sound, and developing the
skills necessary to conduct Breeding Bird Surveys and point
counts, may take several years for beginning birders. It
therefore makes sense to train your “local experts” to help
you accomplish these types of monitoring projects initially.
These local experts are ideally individuals already familiar
with song and visual identification who require training and
practice oriented toward monitoring techniques. Pair the
people who are beginning birders with the local experts to
provide additional field training to the beginners.
Slides, audio tapes, videos, field practice, and frequent
quizzing or testing are all extremely beneficial, particularly
to beginning birders.
Many of the skills useful in assisting with a Monitoring
Avian Productivity Station (MAPS) can be learned relatively quickly depending upon the individual. Hanging nets
and recording data are the skills learned most easily. Both
activities, however, require a patience and precision not
necessarily present in all people. Removing birds from nets,
banding, and determining age and sex characteristics require considerably more skill and practice.
Be perceptive regarding the talents and limitations of
volunteers. Openly discuss their strengths and limitations
with them. Give them a job at which they can succeed.
We have been extremely fortunate in reaching our goal of
developing an enthusiastic and committed group of volunteers in Juneau. Of the 65 people who have participated in
the course since 1993, about 10 local people participate
regularly in various activities, primarily with MAPS stations. Approximately 90% of students taking the class are
not “traditional” students. They are older than the typical
18- to 22-year-old student. Many have lived in southeast
Alaska for long periods of time. About 50% are resource
professionals or students who seek to expand their knowledge. The remaining 50% are local people with careers
outside the natural resource professions who have a great
interest in birds. Several elementary and middle school
teachers have participated in the class. Juneau has a healthy
tourism industry that includes tour businesses that cater to
cruise ship visitors and outdoor adventure companies offering 3-day to 2-week kayak, raft, and canoeing trips. Guides
who work for both types of companies have taken the
247
Techniques for Monitoring Birds course. Approximately 8
students who have taken the course have gone on to be
involved in bird monitoring and/or research projects in
Alaska and in the western United States. Other graduates
have gone on to supervise operation of MAPS stations for the
Juneau Ranger District (and to co-teach the course), and to
initiate Marbled Murrelet surveys that contribute to recent
assessments for the revision of the Tongass Land Management Plan. These are just a few of our success stories.
248
A large commitment of time and resources is required to
teach the skills necessary for volunteers to accomplish
quality monitoring. Investing your time in community members who will be around and interested over longer periods
of time seems to offer the greatest returns and be most
rewarding. Training volunteers is well worth the effort!
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-16. 2000