Bird Survey Data Using Three Methods, Karawatha Forest Park, South East Queensland Peri-Urban SuperSite, Karawatha, 2012

Brief description

Bird composition surveyed at 32 PPBio plots by using three survey methods at Karawatha Forest Park.

Full description

The methods used were: expert ornithologist, citizen scientists and acoustic recorders. All three methods were used at each plot and the sampling methods were performed concurrently. Each plot follows the elevation contour and is 250 m long x 80 m wide. The starting point of plots are spaced 500 m apart. Surveys were undertaken between May and August 2012. Surveys conducted by the ornithologist and citizen scientists were 20 min long and took place within the first three hours of sunrise. Each plot was surveyed twice by the ornithologist and the citizen scientists (n = 128). A total of eight citizen observers were used in this study, with each observer surveying a minimum of five plots. Multiple observers were present on each plot at any one time to increase safety, but were spaced temporally so as to reduce the influence of the other observer(s). The acoustic recorders were developed by Dr Paul Roe and Jason Wimmer from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The recorders comprise of an Olympus DM-420 digital voice recorder (recording at 44.1 kHz 128 kbps, and between 40-17,000 Hz) with an external battery power source (Duracell D-cell batteries) enclosed within a waterproof, lockable casing, with an external stereo-microphone array. All recordings were in mp3 format. At each plot one recorder was placed at the base of the closest small tree 5m to the left-hand or right-hand side of the 125m mark of the transect midline. The recorder was buried in a shallow hole (no deeper than 25cm) and covered with dirt and surrounding leaf litter for camouflage to prevent tampering/theft, with the stereo microphones attached to the box being secured to the adjacent tree and elevated from the ground. During each two week period the recorders were set to record every morning for two hours, with all recordings being within the period till three hours after dawn. Twenty-eight hours of recordings were obtained for each plot (896 hours total for the study).

Notes

Bird composition Detection method of expert ornithologist Detection method of citizen scientists Detection method of acoustic recorders