Audubon Chicago Region/Bird Conservation Network
Summer Grassland Bird Blitz 2014: Instructions
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OVERVIEW
Why the Blitz?
Grassland birds are the fastest declining suite of birds in the United States. The Illinois Wildlife Action
Plan (IWAP) recommends increasing populations of key grassland birds by 1.5 or 2 times from their
current numbers. The Partners in Flight Landbird Conservation Plan, BCR-level PIF plan, and other
regional and national plans echo this priority. Although regional grassland plans exist, motivating
landowners to implement them remains a challenge, due to the disparate needs, constraints, and
competing priorities they all face . This is the challenge that the Chicago Wilderness Grassland Task
Force is taking on.
In the Chicago region, an expansive network of citizen scientists, volunteer land stewards and public
land management agencies and NGOs has pioneered sustainable grassland restoration and management
work. This work has led to the re-establishment or enhancement of grassland bird communities on
public and private lands. The Chicago Wilderness Grassland Bird Working Group (Working Group) was
formed to bring a regional, landscape-level perspective to CW partner efforts.
This year’s Bird Blitz, in addition to being a lot of fun, will provide volunteers with an opportunity to
make a significant contribution to science by improving our understanding of how birds perceive
grassland habitats in the Chicago Wilderness. Using historical bird observations and landscape
characteristics derived from satellite imagery, Audubon has developed two different models to predict
where we think Chicago’s grassland birds might occur and in what number. Each of the models makes
distinct assumptions about the factors affecting bird distributions across the landscape. Maps generated
from each of the models suggest there are more birds to be found, but they don’t always agree about
the exact locations of those hotspots. We need your help to assess which model most accurately
estimates the sizes of grassland bird populations and identifies areas that are most important for
conserving those populations. The resulting model will be used by the CW working group to monitor
how much grassland habitat is being added in the region and to highlight areas where grassland
restoration would be fruitful.
Target birds: bobolink, meadowlark, sedge wren, grasshopper sparrow, Henslow’s sparrow
How does the Blitz work?
The Blitz requires one site visit any time in June, to be concluded by 9 am, with an optional scouting visit
in advance.
On May 13 a map will be posted of the Chicago Region, divided into squares measuring approximately 5
km on a side. Squares where we need information will be marked. You will select or be assigned to a
square. Choose a square on the landscape from our map, and you will receive both a google earth file
and a printable map of your square.
Audubon Chicago Region/Bird Conservation Network
Summer Grassland Bird Blitz 2014: Instructions
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Either by scouting in advance in the field, or by exploring on a digital map from your desktop, choose
habitat that looks likely to have grassland birds.
On the day of your survey, arrive within an hour after sunrise at the site that you have selected, choose
a few points (we explain how to do this below), and spend 5 minutes at each point reporting all the birds
you see and hear at each. Visit one or two sites in your square, and do two or three point counts at each
site. Be sure to do at least one point count in a non-wooded spot that has no grassland birds. (Those
zeroes are important!)
Keep track of the points you have chosen and your data using the form provided.
BEFORE YOU MONITOR
 Familiarize yourself with the procedures described in these instructions.
 Review the calls and appearance of the grassland birds.
 Invite a friend to go along if you like.
 We strongly recommend that you download the free version of Google Earth if you do not have
it. You will most likely find it very useful for other things, and it will make this Blitz much easier
to do. www.google.com/earth
 Choose a square sometime between May 12 and May 31. We will send you a google earth file in
kmz format and a printable map of your square. A kmz file is a file that automatically opens in
Google Earth and allows you to explore your square
 Print out a few copies of the map of your square and the form.
 Examine your square to find a few likely places to do a point count – either on Google earth or
the map or in the field. We will not be assigning points – you will choose a few points in good
habitat, and also at least one point in open habitat that does not have grassland birds (such as
an ag field). If you are not sure what grassland looks like on an aerial photograph, find some
grasslands that you are familiar with on the map for comparison. Remember that aerials can be
taken at different times of year and appearances change throughout the year. We will post a
page on the website with some examples.
Audubon Chicago Region/Bird Conservation Network
Summer Grassland Bird Blitz 2014: Instructions
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CHOOSING LOCATIONS FOR A POINT COUNT
Look for fields that are at least 40-50 acres (bigger if they are a long shape, smaller if they are
surrounded by other open land uses such as ag fields) that are dominated by grass. These
could be native prairie, or non-native grass fields such as hayfields, fallow fields, or pastures.
Some public or private conservation lands can also be non-native grass fields. Also look for an
open location that is unlikely to have the target species, such as an agricultural field.
Figure out what grassland looks like on an aerial by studying some grasslands that you know.
We will also post some examples in May. If you are able to get out to your square before
your Blitz day to scout your areas and check things out on the ground, that will be very
helpful. Think about access and safety. Public lands, or private lands with a roadside
viewing spot where you can safely pull off, are best. If you would like our help selecting a
good spot or contacting a private landowner for permission to enter the site, let us know.
Equipment suggested:
Printed map of your search site
Data form
Optional: GPS unit: Audubon/BCN has a few to lend out (see below).
Notebook
Binoculars
Field guide
Pens or pencils
BLITZ DAY
You may collect Blitz data any day in June, before 9 am. Please arrive at or before 7:00 am to have
enough time to locate a few points with grassland birds and at least one point without grassland birds
and do 5-minute point counts at each. Because we are feeding these points into a model, there is no
need to use any sort of randomization method to find a point. Our target bird species are bobolink,
meadowlark, sedge wren, grasshopper sparrow, Henslow’s sparrow. You will simply explore your site,
find places that have one or more of the target grassland birds, and do point counts in them. We also
want data from points in open habitats with no target grassland birds in them, because we are training
the model to distinguish suitable from unsuitable habitat for our target bird species.
Visit the first place that you have marked as potential habitat, and explore a little until you find a
section that has one or more of our target grassland birds. Stop there and do a five-minute point count
by following these directions:
Point count directions
1. Enter the information from your first point in the first column, marked point 1. Note your
location by copying lat-lon coordinates from a gps device or an app on your smart phone (your phone
Audubon Chicago Region/Bird Conservation Network
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may have a standard Compass app; if not you can download one), or noting the spot on the map by
drawing a point and labeling it P1.
2. Wait one minute.
3. Note the time.
4. Spend the next 5 minutes recording all birds that you see and hear within 75 meters of your point
on the form. Record the number of each species seen or heard such as robin 2, bobolink 3, etc. Try your
best to figure out how many of each species are present – each individual bird should be recorded only
one time at one point. (If you can hear it singing from two points choose the closest one.)
5. Do not record birds that are flying overhead and bypassing the site. Birds that are flying near or
below tree level or that are using the site for aerial foraging should be counted.
6. After you have completed your 5-minute count, record the habitat information.
Use the box provided to characterize the habitat within your 75m radius point circle.
 Choose one number from among the following:
1 prairie – contains at least 40% native prairie grasses and forbs
2 hayfield – non-native grasses such as brome, alfalfa, fescue, etc.
3 pasture – maintained for grazing animals
4 other ag field - corn, soy, other crops
5 Meadow or fallow field – unused land that is not being maintained for conservation purposes
6 non-native conservation field – former hayfield, agricultural set-aside or other conservation land
dominated by brome, fescue, redtop, or other non-native grasses.
 Choose one shrub classification
S0 = no shrubs, S<10 = less than 10%, S<20 = 10-20% cover, S20+ = more than 20% cover
 Select any letter codes that apply
RG rank tall grass: large dense stands of a near monoculture of tall grass such as Indian Grass, fescue
or reed canary grass
RF rank tall forbs (wildflowers): large dense stands of a near monoculture of tall forbs such as sweet
clover or tall goldenrod
H Hedgerows dissect field
O Other threat to grassland habitat (please specify: development, off-leash dogs, off-road bikes, etc.
If there are no target grassland birds in the spot you selected, please do a point count there anyway.
Data from places with no grassland birds is equally important for this study.
Audubon Chicago Region/Bird Conservation Network
Summer Grassland Bird Blitz 2014: Instructions
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After you have finished your first point, find another spot at least 150 meters away to do an additional
point count. Follow the directions above, labeling this point P2. For the rest of the morning, until 9 am,
continue to explore areas in your square, stopping to do point counts as you encounter places with any
of the target species, and also being sure to do one or more point counts at open places with no birds.
Record them in sequence: P3, P4, etc. Data from fields without grassland birds including fields that are
invaded by brush or rank vegetation, large agricultural fields including row crop fields, pastures, horse
farms and the like will be very useful to refine the model. If you have any patience for doing more than
one point count in locations such as this, even though the birds may not be very interesting, you will
contribute significantly to this project. Please be careful if you stop on country roads: be sure to find a
safe place to pull off and use caution when re-entering traffic.
If you can spend more than one morning doing point counts in your square, please do so. We are trying
to train a remote sensing process to distinguish between suitable and unsuitable habitat. The more data
that is fed into this model from both suitable and unsuitable points, the better it will be.
ENTERING YOUR DATA
When you have completed all your field visits, prepare your data for submission.
It will be a great help if you enter your sightings online at www.ebird.org/bcn/. If you do not have an
eBird account or are unfamiliar with how to do this, contact Lee Ramsey for help at
bcnsurvey@gmail.com or (847-501-4683). You will need to identify your points using eBird’s on-line
method. Please name your points as follows: Blitz A1 P2, with A1 being your square number and P2
being your point number.
If you cannot enter data on eBird, we will find a volunteer to enter them for you. If you drew your
points on a map, it would be helpful if you could look up the coordinates of your points, using the
instructions in the box below.
Please don’t let either of these things slow you down – we’d rather get your data and find someone to
help get it entered than have it sit on your desk for an extra month.
Getting coordinates from Google Earth
Place the cursor at the point you want coordinates for. Copy the coordinates at the bottom of the
image. Note: These are coordinates in degree-minutes-seconds. Distinguish between them and
coordinates in decimal degrees. (Coordinates in eBird are listed in decimal degrees.)
Audubon Chicago Region/Bird Conservation Network
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Please mail us your data sheet, even if you have already entered the data on eBird , before July 30,
2014:
Grassland Blitz
Audubon Chicago Region
1718 Sherman Ave #210
Evanston, IL 60201
For questions about these instructions, or other help, or to borrow a GPS unit contact the Audubon/BCN
office, contact Judy Pollock at 847 328-1250 ext. 15 or jpollock@audubon.org.