GREENWAYS & NATURAL LANDS

Bird Monitoring

Natural areas are important to both resident breeding birds and species migrating to and through Florida. All bird species encountered during normal operations will be documented and recorded on the base inventory. Quarterly surveys will be conducted on designated routes using criteria established for the Florida Migratory Bird Count, a survey organized by the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.

Nest boxes have been established at Geneva, Lake Jesup and Chuluota Wilderness Areas through a partnership with the Boy Scouts of America, and may be placed at other Wilderness Areas in the future. Nest boxes will be checked twice during the breeding season (approximately March - June) and once during winter. All wildlife species, including non-target species, encountered using the boxes, will be identified and documented.

MONITORING PROTOCOL
BIRDS
	The bird, wildflower, and butterfly surveys will be done together, when possible.
	Every Wilderness Area has a bird/wildflower/butterfly survey route.
	During each event the survey team (preferred) or individual investigator (accepted) should start the survey by 08:00 each morning.
	The bird survey (alone) should last for a minimum of two hours.
	Only birds that are positively identified by sight or sound should be recorded.
	The investigator(s) must try to estimate the quantity of birds along the route.
	If the survey route does not allow the investigator to make a complete loop (if you have to backtrack some portion of the route) don’t count any species that you have already recorded. Do count species that are new for that day’s event.
	The surveys should be done on mild weathered days. If it is raining or windy (to a point were the tops of large trees are moving) the survey should be moved to another day.
	At several (no more than 10) points along the survey route a screech or barred owl tape can be played to attract birds.
WILDFLOWERS
	No more than one individual from each species should be collected for identifying.
	The optimum number of people for these surveys is two to three. One person, alone, should rarely do these surveys.
	As with the bird and butterfly surveys, wildflowers seen on the "return" trip should only be counted on the survey list if they are new for that day.
	No counts of wildflower numbers (quantities) are needed for this survey.
BUTTERFLIES
	The butterfly survey will require either an experienced butterfly person or the use of butterfly nets and field guides.
	As with wildflowers, no more than one individual from each species should be collected for identification.
	Species that are counted on the first "leg" of a survey loop should not be counted on the way back. Only new species should be counted on the return trip.
	For the butterfly survey, a quantity of each species should be taken.
	The overall methodology used for this survey is very similar to the bird survey.