The Condor: Ornithological Applications
Embargoed until August 29, 2018 13:00 EDT (News release from the American Ornithological Society)
Researchers tested a mathematical model called a “removal model” using bird count data for 152 species from the Boreal Avian Modelling Project, which covers a vast area of Canada, Alaska, and the northeastern U.S. They found that incorporating variation in birds’ singing behavior improved models’ accuracy — how likely birds are to sing changes over the course of the day and the year, affecting how easy they are to detect. Extending the length of individual bird counts from three or five minutes to ten minutes also produced better population estimates for species of conservation concern.
Lead author: Péter Sólymos, University of Alberta – solymos@ualberta.ca