United States      Office of Research   Office of Environmental  EPA-625-R-01-007
 Environmental Protection and Development   Information      September 2001
 Agency        Washington, DC 20460 Washington, DC 20460  www.birdcast.com
 Developing and Implementing a
 Bird  Migration Monitoring,
 Assessment, and Public
 Outreach Program for
 Your Community
 The BirdCast Project
   E  M  P A C  T
Environmental Monitoring for Public Access
       & Community Tracking
           I US EPA Office of Research and Development I

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DISCLAIMER
This document has been reviewed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and approved
or publication. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or
recommendation of their use.

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                                   EPA/625/R-01/007
                                     September 2001
Developing and Implementing a Bird
        Migration Monitoring,
       Assessment, and Public
        Outreach Program for
           Your Community
         The BirdCast Project
        National Risk Management Research Laboratory

           Office of Research and Development

          U. S. Environmental Protection Agency

              Cincinnati, Ohio 45268

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
             The  development of  this handbook  was managed by Scott  Hedges  (U.S.
             Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National
             Risk Management Research  Laboratory)  with the support of Eastern Research
       Group, Inc., an EPA contractor. Technical guidance was provided by the BirdCast project
       staff and its partners. EPA and BirdCast would like to thank the following people and
       organizations for their substantial contributions to the contents of this handbook:

              Sally Conyne, National Audubon Society

              Sidney Gauthreaux, Clemson University Radar Ornithology Laboratory

              Duane Heaton, EPA Region  5

              Steve Kelling, Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology

              Ronald Landy, EPA Region 3

              Ron Larkin, Illinois Natural History Survey

              Ralph Wright, EPA Office of Pesticide Programs

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TABLE  OF CONTENTS
       1. INTRODUCTION	1
             1.1 About the EMPACT Program	2
             1.2 About the EMPACT BirdCast Project	3
             1.3 About This Handbook	5
             1.4 For More Information	5
       2. HOW TO USE THIS HANDBOOK	7
       3. BEGINNING A NEW BIRD MIGRATION MONITORING PROGRAM  	9
             3.1 Program Structure: Overview of a Bird Migration Monitoring Program	9
             3.2 Selecting Program Partners	10
             3-3 Figuring Costs	11
       4. INSTRUMENT-BASED  OBSERVATION OF BIRD MIGRATION	13
             4.1 What is NEXRAD and What Can It Do?	13
             4.2 What is Bioacoustic Monitoring and What Can It Do?	14
             4.3 How Do NEXRAD, Bioacoustic Monitoring, and Volunteer
                Groundtruthing Fit Together?	15
             4.4 How Can A Bird Monitoring Organization Begin Using NEXRAD
                to Observe and Predict Bird Migrations?	15
             4.5 How Did BirdCast Implement the NEXRAD Component of
                Its Bird Monitoring Program?	16
       5. GROUNDTRUTHING OBSERVATIONS  	19
             5.1 How Does  Groundtruthing Complement Radar Analysis?	19
             5.2 How Does  BirdCast Conduct Its Groundtruthing Program	20
             5.3 BirdCast's Administrative Procedures	20
       6. EDUCATION AND OUTREACH  	27
             6.1 Developing an Outreach Plan	27
             6.2 Education and Outreach Tools	31
             6.3 Evaluating the Effectiveness of Outreach Efforts	37
             6.4 For More Information	37
       APPENDIX A BIRDCAST EDUCATION AND OUTREACH  MATERIALS .             .39
                                                                                                 in

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1
INTRODUCTION
             Every year, several billion birds undertake  seasonal
             migrations in pursuit of food, shelter, and nesting
             grounds. North America is the site of some of the
       world's most spectacular bird migration, and millions of
       American "birders" enjoy spending time in the field iden-
       tifying the birds passing through their area.  Migratory
       birds  are  delightful  not only for birders, but  also for
       countless  other Americans who casually observe  their
       comings  and goings, particularly in the spring and fall.
       These birds also have a distinct economic value (nearly $3
       billion in the mid-Atlantic states alone) to the tourist and
       outfitting industries of the  regions located  along their
       flight path.
       Aside from any immediate  benefits they provide, migratory birds are valuable for the role
       they play in our ecosystems—in particular, for eating insects and thereby keeping pest pop-
       ulations under control. We also have reason to be concerned about the well-being of
       migratory birds that extends beyond any inherent value these birds may possess. As natu-
       ralist  Roger Tory Peterson noted, birds are an "ecological litmus paper"—because of their
       rapid metabolism and wide geographic range, they often
       provide an early warning of environmental deterioration.
       Migratory birds depend on many different kinds of open
       space, such as swamps, marshes, meadows, and suburban
       parkland. Therefore, research and conservation aimed at
       keeping a particular bird population healthy may lead to
       the broader goal of restoring these threatened habitats.
       When migrating,  a  bird may travel  hundreds  or  even
       thousands of miles without stopping. The exertion of fly-
       ing such long  distances  leaves  birds exhausted and
       vulnerable. Many birds, particularly those that encounter
       adverse weather conditions, do not survive their journeys.
       Unfortunately, human activities can further increase the
       levels of stress and danger that a migratory bird faces. For
       example:
           * Inopportune application of pesticides to lawns,  gardens, and parks may poison a
             bird's food supply at just the moment when it is weakest and most in need of nour-
             ishment. In the United States, migratory birds are particularly vulnerable to pesticide
             application as they migrate northward in the spring.
           * Lights  on tall structures (such as skyscrapers and communication towers) may con-
             fuse and disorient birds, causing them to become exhausted and crash into objects.
             Similarly, birds injure or kill themselves by flying into panes of glass. These problems
             appear to be particularly severe  on overcast nights when birds may circle a light
             source.
                                                                        af North America, the sight of migrating
                                                               migration routes in North America
       INTRODUCTION

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    * The development of land for human purposes such as agriculture, housing,  and
      commerce often renders it unsuitable for use by birds. Birds may be challenged not
      only by the loss of habitat in their breeding and wintering ranges, but also by loss of
      habitat at key stop-over points where they need to rest and regain strength over the
      course of migration.

    * Humans have imported animals to North America that prey upon migratory birds
      (e.g., cats)  or compete with them (e.g., starlings). These new biological threats, com-
      bined with decreasing quantities of suitable habitat, may reduce the population and
      range of a  particular migratory bird species.
There is much that property managers and the general public can do  to  mitigate these
problems if they are aware of them, interested in solving them, and educated about bird
conservation. During a period of peak bird migration, pesticide applications can be
delayed, bright building lights can be turned off, and cats can be kept indoors. Therefore,
outreach programs designed to inform these audiences about the status of seasonal bird
migration  are a promising route to improving the conservation of migratory birds.
EPA has developed this technology transfer handbook primarily for community organiz-
ers, non-profit groups, local government officials, and other decision-makers who  will
implement, or are considering implementing, bird migration monitoring and public out-
reach programs. The handbook is designed with two main goals in mind. The first goal is
to present  a case study showing how one regional outreach program—EMPACT's BirdCast
project for the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States—provides information that allows
property managers and the general public to assist migratory birds. The second—and per-
haps more important—goal is to provide you with guidance for developing a similar
program in your own region. The guidance in the handbook is based on the experience of
the EMPACT BirdCast project, as well as that of other experts in the fields of ornithology
and public outreach.

1.1  ABOUT  THE  EMPACT  PROGRAM
This handbook was  developed by the U.S. Environmental  Protection Agency's (EPA's)
EMPACT Program (http://www.epa.gov/empacf). EPA created EMPACT (Environmental
Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking) in 1997.  It is now one of the pro-
grams within EPA's Office of Environmental Information. EMPACT is a new approach to
providing  timely environmental information to communities across the nation, helping
people to make informed, day-to-day decisions. Residents in 156 of the largest metropoli-
tan areas in the United States have or will soon have an  easy way to answer questions such
    * What is the ozone level in my city this morning?
    * What is the water quality at my beach today?

    * How high is the ultraviolet radiation in my city today?
    * What is the level of contamination at the hazardous waste site in my community?
    * What are the levels of lead in the soil in yards in my neighborhood?
To help make EMPACT more effective, EPA is partnering with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey. EPA is working closely with
these federal entities to help achieve nationwide consistency in measuring environmental
data, managing information, and delivering that information to the public.
                                                                 CHAPTER  1

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EMPACT projects cover a wide range of environmental issues, such as groundwater con-
tamination,  ocean pollution,  smog, drinking water quality, ultraviolet  radiation,  and
ecosystem quality. Some of these projects have been initiated directly by EPA. Others have
been launched by the EMPACT communities themselves.

 1.2  ABOUT THE  EMPACT  BIRDCAST  PROJECT
EPA's EMPACT program started funding the BirdCast project (http://www.birdcast.org) in
1999, and the project started public operation on April 1, 2000. The project began as a col-
laboration among EMPACT,  EPA Region 3, EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs, the
National Audubon Society, Cornell University's  Laboratory of Ornithology, Clemson
University's  Radar Ornithology Laboratory,  the Academy of Natural  Sciences in
Philadelphia, and GeoMarine,  Inc. The four primary objectives of the project are:
1) To maintain an Internet Web site that posts educational information about bird migra-
  tion and the steps that property managers can take to mitigate the danger and stress that
  migrating birds face when passing through an area.

2) To predict and monitor bird migrations on a daily basis using weather radar. The data
  gathered by radar are continually interpreted by trained scientists  and presented using
  text summaries, charts, and radar maps. During its first year, BirdCast also experimented
  with using microphones to perform bioacoustic monitoring of bird migrations.
3) To collect and disseminate volunteers' reports of bird sightings. This information col-
  lection, known  as "groundtruthing," is coordinated through the  BirdCast Web  site.
  Groundtruthing information  is  stored  on   an  Web-accessible  database  called
  "BirdSource" that Cornell maintains. Visitors to the BirdCast Web site can query this
  database and display reports in chart or graph form.
4) To raise public awareness about the sensitivity of migratory bird populations. This pub-
  lic relations campaign,  coordinated by  National Audubon, involves generating press
  releases, working with local land managers, distributing promotional materials,  and
  making presentations at conferences and conventions.

 1.2.1   BIRDCABT'B REGIONAL.  Focus
To date, the  BirdCast program has primarily covered bird migration along a portion of the
"mid-Atlantic flyway," a coastal area between North Carolina and New England that expe-
riences significant migratory  bird  activity each  spring and fall. The  initial focus of
BirdCast's attention has been the  city of Philadelphia. BirdCast established a local partner-
ship with Philadelphia's local PBS station (WHYY) and the Academy of Natural Sciences
to develop a public relations focus on the region surrounding this city. The BirdCast pro-
ject's efforts to collaborate with land managers so far have consisted primarily of work with
Philadelphia's Fairmont Park Commission. It is hoped that eventually BirdCast can be
expanded to cover the entire Atlantic flyway. Birds could be tracked coming across the Gulf
of Mexico and at their first landfall. Birdwatchers up the coast could be alerted to the sta-
tus  of the migrating birds and provided with additional early warning of their arrival.
Despite its current regional focus, BirdCast also hopes to expand to cover the entire United
States by forming new partnerships with local governments and birding organizations. So
far,  BirdCast has succeeded at drawing both widespread media attention (it was discussed
in more than over 100 news articles by spring 2000) and attention in venues of national
importance (it has been covered by news reporters from both the New York Times and the
Wall Street Journal).
INTRODUCTION

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 1.2.2  BIRDCABT  IN  CONTEXT
The BirdCast project is a collaboration among individuals and organizations that made sig-
nificant contributions  to the field of bird monitoring both before and after  receiving
EMPACT  funding.  A brief history of these bird monitoring activities  (and of radar
ornithology in particular) will help to place BirdCast in its full context.
At the outset of World War II, almost immediately after the invention of tracking radar,
British radar operators noticed that birds flying over the English  channel would sometimes
appear on their screens. At the time, this fact was noteworthy primarily because it was pos-
sible to  mistake  a  bird  for a fast-moving-ship—significant ornithological use of this
phenomenon did not begin until the 1960s. Sidney Gauthreaux,  now Director of the
Clemson University Radar Ornithology Laboratory, began studying the radar detection of
birds at that time and has accumulated over 35 years of experience with the method. In the
1970s, the  United States Air Force also began studying bird migration as a serious hazard
to the operation of military aircraft, which often fly at high speeds and low altitudes. The
Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) team organized by the Air Force began exploring
radar's potential to provide early warning of potential bird collisions. Their efforts were sig-
nificantly aided by the emergence of "Next Generation Radar" (NEXRAD) in the early
1990s. NEXRAD is a network of highly sensitive weather radar stations located through-
out the United States. In 1995, Sidney Gauthreaux also began using NEXRAD in his
ornithological studies.
Meanwhile, in the mid-1990s, the National Audubon Society and Cornell University's
Laboratory of Ornithology began applying a very different emerging technology to the
field of bird conservation. These two groups collaborated to develop BirdSource, a sophis-
ticated computer database that  uses the  Internet to  allow birders from across North
America  to send their observations to a central repository. With financial assistance from
the Packard Foundation,  these two groups spent more than $2.5 million developing the
BirdSource database as a nation-wide information technology resource for birders.
The idea of the BirdCast program emerged at a 1997 biodiversity meeting attended by per-
sonnel from both EPA Region 3 and the Department of Defense. EPA and DoD discussed
the possibility of providing the public with near real-time information about bird migra-
tion using  radar technology. BirdCast  combined the  capabilities of Clemson's Radar
Ornithology Lab with the information technology capabilities of BirdSource so that mem-
bers of the  public would be able to not only view radar images  but also submit data that
might  verify (i.e., "groundtruth") those  images. EMPACT began funding the project
through EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs and Region 3 in 1999, and BirdCast began its
public operations in 2000.

 1.2.3  RELATED  BIRD MONITORING  PROGRAMS
BirdCast is not the only program that  is currently using radar technology to track bird
migration. Additional groups, such as the ones listed below, either have pursued or plan to
pursue radar tracking technologies:
    * BASH, the U.S. Air Force's program to guard against collisions between wildlife and
      aircraft, has developed an Avian Hazard Advisory System (AHAS). AHAS can  be
      accessed on the Web at http://www.ahas.com. This system uses radar to predict the
      risk of a bird-aircraft collision  along various flight paths at various times.

    * The   Illinois   Natural   History  Survey,   the  University   of   Illinois
      (http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu}, and EPA Region 5 (http://www.epa.gov/region5] have pro-
                                                                  CHAPTER  1

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      posed setting up a project analogous to BirdCast for the Chicago region. The organ-
      izers hope to draw Chicago residents' attention to the unique role that their urban
      and suburban open spaces play in the migration of birds, thereby encouraging inter-
      est in the conservation of those open spaces.

 1.3 ABOUT THIS HANDBOOK
A number of bird observatories throughout the United States  have expressed interest in
beginning projects similar to BirdCast. The Technology Transfer and Support Division of
the EPA Office of Research and  Development's (ORD's) National Risk Management
Research Laboratory initiated the development of this handbook to help interested organ-
izations learn more about BirdCast and to provide them with  the technical information
they need to develop their own programs. ORD, working with BirdCast, produced the
handbook to leverage EMPACT's  investment in  the project and minimize the  resources
needed to implement similar projects in new areas.
Both print and CD-ROM versions of the handbook are available for direct online order-
ing from ORD's Technology Transfer  Web  site  at http://www.epa.gov/ttbnrmrl. A PDF
version of the handbook can also be downloaded from that site.  In addition, you can order
a copy of the handbook (print or CD-ROM version) by contacting ORD Publications by
telephone or by mail at:
EPA ORD Publications
USEPA-NCEPI
P.O. Box 42419
Cincinnati, OH 45242
Phone: (800) 490-9198 or (513) 489-8190
Please make sure you include the title of the handbook and the  EPA document number
in your request.

We hope that you find the handbook worthwhile, informative,  and easy to use.
We welcome your comments; you can send them  by e-mail from EMPACT's Web site at
http://www. epa.govIempactlcomment, htm.

 1.4 FOR MORE  INFORMATION
Try the following resources for more on the issues and programs this handbook discusses:
The EMPACT Program
http://www. epa.gov/empact

BirdSource
http://www. BirdSource. org

Cornell University Laboratory of
Ornithology
http://birds. Cornell, edu

National Audubon Society
http://www.audubon. org

Ralph Wright
EPA Office of Pesticide Programs
(703)  308-3273
Ronald Landy
EPA Region 3
(410) 305-2757
Sally Conyne
National Audubon Society
(215) 297-9040
Steve Kelling
Cornell  University Laboratory of
Ornithology
(607) 254-2478
INTRODUCTION

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CHAPTER  1

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2
   How  TO   USE   THIS   HANDBOOK
       T
      his handbook provides information your organization can use to create and imple-
      ment a Web-based bird monitoring program. It presents detailed guidance, based on
      the experience of the EMPACT BirdCast Project, on how to:
    1. Identify target communities that would be interested in reporting on and following
      the progress of bird migration.
    2. Record and present real-time information about bird migration using radar, weather
      information, and acoustic monitoring.

    3. Collect groundtruthing information from volunteer birders and present it to the public.
    4. Provide education  and outreach to members of the public about what to do when
      migratory birds pass through their area.

This handbook provides simple  "how  to"  instructions on each  facet of planning and
implementing a bird monitoring  program, along with additional information about bird
migration:

    * Chapter 3 discusses bird migration as a general conservation issue and how the dif-
      ferent members of a bird migration monitoring organization work with each other
      to help birds as they migrate.
    * Chapter 4 discusses instrument-based observations of birds.

    * Chapter 5 covers a variety of issues relevant to volunteer groundtruthing, including
      a detailed description of BirdCast's policies and experiences working with volunteer
      birders.
    * Chapter 6 treats the methods and strategies a  bird  monitoring organization  may
      make use of to conduct public outreach and education.
    * Appendix A presents examples  of education  and  outreach  materials  from the
      BirdCast project.
Interspersed throughout the handbook are success stories and lessons learned in the course
of the EMPACT BirdCast project.
       Haw  TO  USE THIS  HANDBOOK

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CHAPTER 2

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3
BEGINNING  A   NEW   BIRD
MIGRATION   MONITORING   PROGRAM
             This chapter provides guidance on important first steps that you will need to take as
             you start your bird migration monitoring program. Section  3.1 provides a  brief
             overview of the structure of a bird migration monitoring program and outlines the
       roles and responsibilities of program partners, based on the EMPACT BirdCast Project
       model. Section 3.2 discusses the critical process of selecting program partners who can best
       help you meet your program's objectives within your target community.
       The information in this chapter is designed primarily for managers  and decision-makers
       who may be considering whether to implement  bird migration monitoring programs in
       their communities, as well as for organizers who are implementing  such programs.

       3.1  PROGRAM  STRUCTURE:  OVERVIEW  OF  A
             BIRD  MIGRATION MONITORING  PROGRAM
       The EMPACT BirdCast project is a multifaceted project that engages  a variety of activi-
       ties—everything  from  distributing posters  to counting birds. These activities  can  be
       grouped into  four main categories, which  make up the main components of the project:
       administration and public outreach, radar analysis, database management, and volunteer
       groundtruthing.

       The following paragraphs summarize these activities to  provide an overview of how the
       EMPACT BirdCast program works. These activities are  described in greater detail in
       Chapters 4 through 6.
       General Administration and Public Outreach. The administrator and staff of BirdCast
       are responsible for the primary public relations and outreach efforts of the project.  This
       includes managing the  distribution of posters about pesticide use, maintaining  contacts
       with news  media organizations to ensure that BirdCast stays in the public eye, issuing  peri-
       odic press releases, and working with  local land managers  to encourage bird-friendly
       gardening practices. The administrator also provides a broad range of support tasks related
       to the  project's birdwatching volunteer program. These tasks include providing advice
       about making bird identifications, making  quality control checks of data submitted by vol-
       unteers, and networking to recruit new volunteers. The BirdCast administrator also serves
       a central liaison with the other BirdCast staff, including the  radar analyst and the  chief
       database base manager.

       Radar Analysis. The  chief radar analyst and his assistant are responsible for predicting the
       degree  of  bird migration activity  in upcoming  evenings and for measuring the actual
       amount of bird migration using radar data. The  radar analyst (and/or his assistant)  must
       make daily reports of predicted and observed migration during the periods of bird migra-
       tion (in the spring and the fall) but have  fewer regular duties during the "offseason." They
       seek out and contract information service  providers to ensure a constant supply of radar
       data during the periods  of migration. Once per day, the radar analysts submit their predic-
       tions and observations to the database administrator via the Internet.
       Database Administration. BirdCast s database administrator and his staff ensure that the
       public has access (via the  Internet) to the  information submitted by the radar analyst. In
       the case of BirdCast,  the database is actually maintained as a separate organization called
       BEGINNING  A  NEW BIRD  MIGRATION  MONITORING  PROGRAM

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                 BirdSource. BirdSource is an entity distinct from BirdCast and it maintains a variety of
                 other Web-enabled birding databases. The BirdCast  database administrator issues  user
                 identifications to new volunteers, implements backups and system security measures, and
                 coordinates the  programming of changes to the database system. Also, while BirdCast's
                 bioaccoustic monitoring was being conducted, the project was coordinated by the database
                 administrator.
                 Volunteer Birdwatching. BirdCast's volunteers provide the "groundtruthing" information
                 necessary to verify the observations  made using radar instrumentation. Volunteers are
                 recruited by the project administrator and contact her with any questions or comments
                 they may have about their participation in the program. Registered volunteers make obser-
                 vations several times  a week and record their findings directly to the BirdCast database
                 (using the Internet).
                 The flow chart below summarizes the basic structure  of the BirdCast project. The chart
                 identifies the main activities of the project, the team members responsible for these activi-
                 ties, and the flow of work among team members. It also indicates where in this handbook
                 you can go for more information about specific activities.
                            BIRD CAST I  an EMPACT-funded, collaborative
                                      effort to track bird migration
                                                                                           a computer facility
                                                                                           at Cornell's
                                                                                           Laboratory of
                                                                                           Ornithology for the
                                                                                           collection and
                                                                                           dissemination of
                                                                                           groundtracking data
                 3.2  SELECTING  PROGRAM  PARTNERS
                 As described in Chapter 1, BirdCast is a partnership of several public and non-profit organ-
                 izations. These have included university laboratories, a wildlife conservation society, a park
                 management authority, and a natural  history organization. The reason BirdCast is com-
                 posed of such a wide range of partners is that its goals require the use of a wide range range
1 D
CHAPTER 3

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of skills and community connections. None of the individual organizations, working by
themselves, would have  been as effective as  the collaboration of many different organiza-
tions, each possessing complementary skills and abilities.

For example, the staff of Clemson University's Radar Ornithology Lab have specialized
skills  in forecasting  and analyzing bird migration patterns using radar images and other
weather data. The National Audubon Society, on the  other hand, has an extensive media
infrastructure for presenting bird conservation information  to the public and can easily
enlist the  support of birding communities.  Cornell's Laboratory of Ornithology, in con-
junction with  the  National  Audubon Society, has  invested in  the development  of
BirdSource,  a sophisticated Web-enabled database for the collection and distribution  of
bird monitoring data.

In starting your own bird monitoring program, you'll  need to assemble a team of individ-
uals or organizations who offer a similar range of skills and qualifications. To select partners
or team members, you should think about how each will fit into the overall program struc-
ture, and how different partners can work together to create a successful program. You will
also need  to consider their relationship to the region  where you will be monitoring bird
activity. For example:

    * A small, grass-roots organization that already has strong ties to the community can
      be ideal for providing public outreach and obtaining volunteer birdwatchers. Local
      chapters of birding clubs, natural history associations, or conservation groups can
      all be good choices. (For a directory of birding clubs in the United States, see:
      (http://birding. about, com/hobbies/birding/library/blalphausclub. htm.)

    «• A university with  an ornithology laboratory would make a good partner for identi-
      fying and interpreting radar images of birds. A professor or graduate student working
      in such a lab might either already have the necessary skills or be able to acquire them
      for the benefit of the bird monitoring project.
    * A government agency, university, or private company that employs persons with a
      range  of programming and "new media" skills would  make a good partner for the
      purposes  of establishing a Web site where the public can  access up-to-date radar
      images and submit and retrieve groundtruthing observations. Building such a Web
      site from the  ground up may require  access to staff trained in JAVA programming,
      Web page design,  network administration, and database building.

3.3   FIGURING COSTS
One of the important first steps for your organization to take when it is considering setting
up a bird  monitoring program is to estimate how much your planned activities will cost.
Although  your program need not be  as large or ambitious as BirdCast's, you may find it
helpful to know how much money BirdCast spent in its first year of operation.
In its  initial year (between December of 1999 and November of 2000) EMPACT provided
BirdCast with $449,500 for operations and  set-up. As shown above, these expenses break
down into five categories, each of which was handled by a separate entity:
    * Project management and national  level promotion  was handled by National
      Audubon  Society. This cost $71,000  or 16% of the overall EMPACT budget for
      BirdCast. This category covers all the public promotion of BirdCast  that went on
      during the year, excepting a local media campaign in Philadelphia.
BEGINNING A NEW  BIRD MIGRATION MONITORING  PROGRAM
i  i

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                                   Software for Processing
                                     NEXRAD Images
                                         22%
Project Management
 and National-level
   Promotion
    16%
                              Generation and
                              Interpretation of
                              NEXRAD Images
                                 15%
                                                                              Project Promotion in
                                                                                Philadelphia Area
                                                                                   17%
                                                       Database and
                                                      Internet Support
                                                          30%
                     * Project promotion in the Philadelphia area was handled by the Academy  of
                       Natural Sciences. This cost $76,500 or  17% of the overall EMPACT  budget for
                       BirdCast. The Academy was responsible for encouraging local news media to discuss
                       BirdCast and reporting its findings.
                     * Database and Internet support was provided by the staff of the BirdSource project
                       at Cornell University. This support cost $136,000, or 30% of the overall EMPACT
                       budget. BirdSource staff maintained the  BirdCast Web  site, set up and  managed a
                       database for groundtruthing observations, and coordinated BirdCast's bioacoustic
                       monitoring program.
                     * Generation and interpretation of NEXRAD images was performed by Clemson
                       University's Radar Ornithology Laboratory (CUROL) for a fee of $68,000, or 15%
                       of the overall EMPACT budget. As described elsewhere in this report, CUROL
                       submitted daily radar information about  bird migration  to the BirdCast Web site.
                     * Software for Processing NEXRAD images was developed by GeoMarine Software
                       for $98,000, or 22% of the overall EMPACT budget. GeoMarine developed soft-
                       ware algorithms for distinguishing radar signals reflected  from birds from those
                       reflected from clouds.

                 This cost breakdown represents the first-year of a cutting-edge  program and should not  be
                 taken as completely representative of the ongoing costs of other bird monitoring programs,
                 particularly those that are smaller in scale. For example, BirdCast organizers learned that it
                 was neither necessary  nor feasible  at present to automatically  distinguish birds from  pre-
                 cipitation with software  algorithms. The expense  associated with this component of the
                 program, therefore, was not carried forward into future years and need not be incurred  by
                 newer monitoring programs.
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4
    INSTRUMENT-BASED
    OF   BIRD   MIGRATION
DBS ERVATION
            Flying takes a lot of work. While larger birds (such as raptors, cranes, and waterfowl)
            will migrate during daylight hours, most songbirds migrate on clear, calm nights when
            weather conditions are most favorable to powered flight.  Unless there is a full moon
       out, lack of light can  make it almost impossible to visually observe migrating songbirds.
       Birders can take note of where such birds land in the morning, but actual songbird migra-
       tion is typically recorded using special instruments.
       The primary foundation of BirdCast's predictions and observations of bird migration is the
       information provided  by a network of WSR-88D weather stations located throughout the
       United States. These weather stations (and the data they produce) are collectively referred
       to as Next Generation Radar (NEXRAD). BirdCast has also experimented with bioacoustic
       monitoring of nocturnal bird migration. Although this technique has proved promising, it
       is not currently in widespread use due to cost considerations.

       4.1  WHAT is  NEXRAD  AND WHAT CAN  IT  Do?
       Like all radar systems, NEXRAD identifies the location of distant objects by transmitting
       radio signals and  analyzing the returning signals that have been reflected off of those dis-
       tant objects. Unlike previous radar networks, which were composed of WSR-57 and/or
       WSR-74C radar  stations,  NEXRAD radar is also able to measure  the radial velocity of
       objects by recording the Doppler shift of the reflected radar. (The Doppler shift is the dif-
       ference between the frequency of the transmitted radar signal and the reflected signal—if
                                                     the reflected signal is higher frequency
                                                     than the transmitted signal, it is an indi-
                                                     cation   that  the  reflecting object  is
                                                     moving toward the  radar station; con-
                                                     versely,  if the  reflected signal  is  at a
                                                     lower frequency, it is an indication that
                                                     the object is  moving away from the
                                                     radar station).

                                                     In addition to this new ability to detect
                                                     object velocity, NEXRAD is also distin-
                                                     guished by  increased object detection
                                                     sensitivity. This is particularly  impor-
                                                     tant for ornithologists because birds are
                                                     relatively weak reflectors  (compared to
                                                     the objects usually detected with radar,
       such as clouds, airplanes,  and ships). NEXRAD is capable of detecting birds flying at a
       range of heights and can provide a rough idea of the altitude at which a particular group
       of birds is flying.  NEXRAD is so sensitive that radar ornithologists need to learn  how to
       differentiate birds and insects—both can be detected.

       Finally, NEXRAD provides information about the reflectivity of a particular object (i.e.,
       how effective a particular object is at reflecting radio waves). Reflectivity can be determined
       by  a number  of different  factors but in the case of migrating birds, it provides indirect
       information about the number of birds traveling in a particular area.
NEXRAD Radar Station in Mount Holly, New Jersey
        INSTRUMENT-BASED OBSERVATION DF  BIRD  MIGRATION
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                 In summary, then, NEXRAD can help determine:
                    *The location of a group of migrating birds, including general altitude information.

                    * The speed with which the group birds are moving towards and away from a partic-
                      ular radar station.

                    * The approximate quantity of migrating  birds in a particular  area. Quantitative
                      NEXRAD estimates are calibrated by "moonwatching"  (counting the number of
                      birds that fly across a visible full moon) and by making next-morning ground obser-
                      vations.

                 4.2  WHAT  is B i 0 AC 0 u STI c  MONITORING
                       AND  WHAT  CAN  IT  Do?
                 BirdCast  staff have been experimenting with bioacoustic monitoring as a way of keeping
                 track of nighttime bird migrations. Bioacoustic monitoring is the process of recording bird
                 calls and matching them to a library of the bird calls of different species. When birds fly at
                 night,  they typically make frequent 50- to 100-millisecond vocalizations. Some birders can
                 make fine distinctions between certain kinds of birds simply on the basis of these calls (e.g.,
                 the distinction between the Veery Thrush, the Gray-Cheeked Thrush, and the Hermit
                 Thrush).  Although birders can perform something like bioacoustic monitoring right in
                 their heads, BirdCast staff are developing a computerized system to automate and stan-
                 dardize the process of recording,  filtering, and identifying bird calls.

                 A bioacoustic monitoring station, typically located on the  property of a volunteer birder,
                 consists of a computer with a sound processing card and a specially designed outdoor
                 microphone. The microphones used in bioacoustic monitoring can detect noises  made by
                 birds that fly up to 1,500 above the ground. Throughout an entire evening, the computer
                 automatically analyzes the sounds picked up on the microphone and digitally records those
                 sounds that appear to be made by birds. In the morning, a volunteer uploads this "filtered"
                 recording to the Cornell Laboratory  of Ornithology, where more sophisticated computer
                 software enters the information into  a database and attempts to determine which species
                 are represented in the recording.

                 The BirdCast program has recently found it necessary to curtail its bioaccoustic monitor-
                 ing program—only a very few stations are currently in use and there are no current plans
                 to establish  new ones. The greatest barrier to the  more extensive use of bioacoustic moni-
                 toring has been the cost of manufacturing the special microphones for the monitoring
                 stations. The basic materials for the microphones are quite inexpensive, but because pro-
                 duction  quantities were  extremely  low,  the  microphones were  being  hand-built  by
                 laboratory staff at  Cornell. The microphones currently cost about $2,500 apiece, but
                 BirdCast staff imagine that the microphones could be dramatically reduced in price if some
                 way were found to mass produce them.
                 Additional limitations of bioacoustic  monitoring  include the following:
                    * Weather conditions can affect both the likelihood that birds will make noises and the
                      ease with which those noises can be picked up with a microphone. Thus, it is diffi-
                      cult to disentangle weather variability from variability in the numbers of migrating
                      birds.
                    * Many species of birds do not make noises  while flying. Therefore, it is difficult to
                      gauge overall numbers of migrating birds solely using this method.
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    * Bioacoustic technology is in an early stage of development. The software that is used
      to quantify and identify birds on the basis of sound recordings is still quite experi-
      mental and there has not been enough time for scientific literature to accumulate on
      this topic.

4.3 Haw  Da  NEXRAD,  BiaAcausric  MONITORING,
      AND  VOLUNTEER GROUNDTRUTHING  FIT TOGETHER?
It is noteworthy that the altitude detection range for bioacoustic monitoring (0-1,500 feet)
does not overlap with the detection range  for NEXRAD radar (generally between 3,000 to
6,000 feet). The non-overlap of these two  ranges complicates the correlation of bioacoustic
results and NEXRAD results, as it is possible for certain bird species to picked up by one
kind of instrument and not the other. Due to the influence of variable weather conditions
and a lack of complete information about the  altitude at which different bird species fly
when they migrate,  it is not possible to precisely predict which species  will fly within the
altitude range of which instruments on any given evening.

Groundtruthing data collection, covered in greater detail in Chapter 5, is an essential com-
plement to both NEXRAD radar interpretation and bioacoustic monitoring.  One reason
for this is the fact that it is difficult to ascertain what kinds of birds are migrating through
an area solely from NEXRAD data. In combination with coordinated groundtruthing data,
however, it is sometimes possible to associate particular clusters of reflectivity with partic-
ular  species of birds. Groundtruthing also helps to calibrate the quantitative estimates of
birds made from radar and it serves as a quality control check of the basic reporting infor-
mation provided by radar and bioacoustic monitoring.

Until recently, the BirdCast Web site combined the daily results of NEXRAD observations,
bioaccoustic monitoring, and groundtruthing in a single display. The purpose of this dis-
play was to show how each of these methods produced results that were similar to those of
the other methods. Under ideal circumstances,  for example, all  three methods would pre-
dict the same degree of migration activity. This display has been recently discontinued on
the grounds that some viewers may have found it too complicated.

4.4 Haw  CAN  A  BIRD   MONITORING  ORGANIZATION
      BEGIN  USING NEXRAD  Ta  OBSERVE  AND  PREDICT
      BIRD  MIGRATIONS?
The essential first step in setting up a radar component for your migration monitoring pro-
gram is to contact an organization  that is already experienced in this  work,  such as the
Clemson University Radar Ornithology Laboratory or the Illinois Natural History Survey.
Such contact is essential for obtaining advice about the feasibility of your project and about
the best way to obtain the expertise necessary to accomplish your project. Depending on
the training and availability of your organization's staff, you will  probably need to either
delegate your actual NEXRAD analysis to an experienced laboratory or send a staff mem-
ber for  training at  such  a laboratory. Both  of these plans would  require negotiating a
working partnership with an organization possessing expertise in radar ornithology.

The  use of NEXRAD  to forecast bird migration, in the words of one practitioner, "is a dif-
ficult task that requires laboratory and field experience as  well as an appreciation  for
meteorological  phenomena." The interpretation  of NEXRAD radar to  observe current
migration is a similarly complex task. At present, it is an undertaking suitable for a gradu-
ate level or post-doctoral ornithologist who has  received hands-on training with an expert.
INSTRUMENT-BASED  OBSERVATION  OF  BIRD  MIGRATION
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                4.5  Haw  DID  BIRDCAST  IMPLEMENT  THE  NEXRAD
                COMPONENT  OF  ITS  BIRD  MONITORING  PROGRAM?
                In July 1998, Dr. Sidney  Gauthreaux of the Clemson University Radar Ornithology
                Laboratory (CUROL) helped propose the BirdCast project to EPA's EMPACT Program.
                His proposed task involved forecasting bird migration twice a day (mid-morning and mid-
                evening) over the Delaware Valley and then using Doppler weather surveillance radar (i.e.,
                the NEXRAD network of WSR-88D  stations) to validate the forecast and measure the
                actual  amount of bird  migration that occurred over the area. The text files and graphic
                radar files were to be sent to the BirdCast Web server at the Laboratory of Ornithology at
                Cornell University and posted on the BirdCast Web site.  GeoMarine, another partner in
                the project, was to  supply hourly WSR-88D imagery that had been processed to eliminate
                echoes from weather and  other non-bird targets. The hourly images would also be posted
                on the BirdCast Web site. A proposal was developed in August 1998 and work began after
                Clemson University signed a subcontract with National Audubon Society in mid-March 2000.

                4.5.1 ACTIVITIES IN  SPRING  2OOQ
                The first task was  to purchase a host computer (Dell Dimension XPS T600MHz, Dell
                Computer Corporation) that could be  used to download the WSR-88D images from the
                NEXRAD Information Distribution Service (NIDS) provider, download the weather data
                necessary  for generating a migration forecast, and serve  as host computer where Cornell
                could electronically "capture" forecast  text files, analysis text files, and the  mosaic radar
                image files. CUROL used Marta Systems,  Inc. as the NIDS provider. CUROL was famil-
                iar with Marta Systems' software, so it could easily make the mosaic images of the radar
                displays from the Delaware  Valley. In order to work from remote locations, CUROL also
                purchased a Gateway Solo  9300 CX laptop computer.  This allowed laboratory staff to
                work on forecasts and analysis while at home or traveling by communicating with the Dell
                host computer over the Internet. CUROL believes that laptops are essential for producing
                consistent and timely results for display on the BirdCast Web site.
                During a previous research project in the middle 1970s, Dr. Gauthreaux developed a multi-
                variate forecasting model to  predict the amount of bird migration in the Athens, Georgia,
                area. The input variables for  this model were the weather predictions for the period in ques-
                tion. Dr. Gauthreaux generated this model by step-wise regression analysis, choosing an array
                of weather variables that best explained the  variation of nighdy bird migration amounts. No
                existing forecasting models of bird migration were available for the Delaware Valley area and
                time constraints prohibited the development of a model for the region. Given this situation,
                CUROL used the Athens forecast model for the spring 2000 BirdCast effort.
                From 31 March through 30  May, Dr. Gauthreaux or graduate students Andrew Farnsworth
                or Jonathan Ariail gathered weather data via the  Internet from weather stations in the
                Delaware  Valley for input to the Athens  model. The model generated a forecast of the
                amount of migration expected over the Delaware Valley. The model was run before noon
                to forecast the amount of migration expected that evening at 10 PM, and it was run before
                midnight  to forecast the amount of migration expected the following morning at 10 AM.
                In addition, to verify the  accuracy of their forecasts, CUROL downloaded radar imagery
                from five WSR-88D stations (KAKQ in Norfolk, VA; KLWX in Sterling, VA.; KDOX at
                Dover Air Force Base, DE;  KDIX at Ft. Dix near Philadelphia, PA; and KCCX at  State
                College, PA) and made mosaic images showing the amount of bird migration over the
                Delaware Valley at the forecast times. The laboratory analyzed and interpreted the mosaics
                so that the viewer of BirdCast would be able to discriminate birds from weather and insects.
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Each morning before noon and each evening before midnight, CUROL staff placed the
text file of the forecast, the text file of the analysis, the graphic file of the radar reflectivity
mosaic, and the graphic file of the radar velocity mosaic in separate folders on the Dell host
computer. The BirdCast server at Cornell automatically downloaded the files and posted
the materials on the BirdCast Web site. Except for a few glitches near the beginning of the
project, the CUROL efforts proceeded with no problems.

4.5.2  LATER SEASONS  (FALL  ZQQQ  AND  SPRING  ZQQ1)
CUROL was encouraged to continue with  the BirdCast  program because of its success  in
forecasting the amount of bird migration during the initial BirdCast effort. There were a
number of changes between the second season of BirdCast  and the first.  For example,
BirdCast coverage was  expanded in this season to include the state of New York.  Also,
because only a very small amount of bird movement had been found in the mid-morning
hours,  CUROL discontinued forecasts and  analyses of daytime bird migration.
CUROL learned from the spring 2000 effort that using a single model to  forecast migration
amount over the entire BirdCast area resulted in inaccurate forecasts for  some areas.  In an
effort to overcome the geographical limitations of the spring 2000 model, CUROL devel-
oped two models specifically for the BirdCast area using a step-wise regression analysis  of
forecast weather variables and the amount of bird migration measured (i.e., the relative
reflectivity of targets [dBZ] displayed in WSR-88D images). CUROL used WSR-88D data
collected during the fall migration of 1999 for another CUROL project and Local Climatic
Data (LCD) for September and October 1999 that it purchased from the  National Climatic
Data Center (NCDC) for two stations: Albany, New York, and Washington, D.C. By the
spring  of 2001, CUROL had developed more than 30 regional models.
As in the spring of 2000, at 2 PM every day CUROL  placed a text file containing the
evening forecast, a text  file containing the analysis of the  previous evening, the graphic file
of the radar reflectivity  mosaic, and the graphic file of the radar velocity mosaic in separate
folders on CUROL's BirdCast host computer. As in the spring the Cornell BirdCast server
collected these files and posted them to  the CUROL portions of the BirdCast Web site.
The ability to generate a forecast each day,  including days on  which both forecasters were
traveling or away from the CUROL host computer, was greatly enhanced by a laptop com-
puter with an FTP program that allowed the forecasters to upload text  and graphics
remotely. With the exception of some  initial glitches that were  quickly corrected, CUROL's
models worked well. A sample of the Web page products for an afternoon posting (in this
case for the afternoons  of 28 and 29 September 2000) can be  found in Figure 1.

4.5.3  FEEDBACK  AND  CONCLUSIONS
CUROL received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the public with regard to its fore-
casting and the radar  ornithology tutorial that it developed  for the BirdCast Web site.
Although the forecasting and analysis portion of the BirdCast project is complete, CUROL
seeks to develop better  forecast models.  As it refines its methodology for building models
and its understanding of the interactions and correlations between specific weather vari-
ables and the amount of bird migration, the accuracy of its  forecasting will continue  to
improve.  Models are an absolute necessity for any attempt to track bird migration over
large spatial scales (such as the entire  eastern seaboard), and  improved accuracy will
improve scientists' ability to understand where and when large movements of migrating
birds will occur.
INSTRUMENT-BASED  OBSERVATION  DF BIRD  MIGRATION
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                      Figure 1. NEXRAD radar images of bird migration on September 28: reflectivity (1) and velocity (r).
                   Analysis 28 September evening:

                   Weather conditions over the BirdCast area were favorable for bird migration.
                   Northerly winds, clear skies, and cool temperatures associated with a strong ridge
                   of high pressure over the area facilitated southward movements of migrants across
                   the region. The reflectivity image (above left) shows extensive moderate to high
                   densities (15-28 dBZ) of non-precipitation reflectors over the coverage area. The
                   velocity image (above right) shows most of these reflectors are moving S and SSW
                   at 20-50 knots  on N and NW winds at 5-10 knots.  These are likely birds.
                   Migration amount was moderate to high across the region, with bird densities
                   reaching 600-1150 birds per cubic kilometers (25-28 dBZ) in many areas.
                          —Andrew Farnsworth, Clemson University Radar Ornithology Laboratory

                   Forecast 29 September evening:

                   Weather conditions over the BirdCast area will not be favorable for bird migration.
                   E and S winds and warming temperatures associated with high pressure off the coast
                   of New England will keep most birds on the ground. Migration amount will be low
                   to moderate, reaching densities of 80-120 birds per cubic kilometer (12-16 dBZ).
                          —Andrew Farnsworth, Clemson University Radar Ornithology Laboratory.
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5
     B RDU N DTRUTH ING   OBSERVATIONS
            The ornithological community uses the term "groundtruthing" to refer to a particular
            process of corroborating and supplementing instrument-based observations of birds
            (such as NEXRAD signals). This procedure is straightforward: one recruits birders in
      the area in question to count and identify birds there. A collective groundtruthing program
      serves a variety of purposes:

          * It  complements the radar data provided by NEXRAD.

          * As a form of "citizen science"  it encourages birders to become
            increasingly engaged in environmental science and conservation.

          * It  makes birding more fun  by organizing an audience for the
            observations of individual birders.

      This  chapter  is  oriented toward helping  the  administrators  of
      bird monitoring organizations develop and manage groundtruthing pro-
      grams. It describes BirdCast's sophisticatedlnternet-based groundtruthing
      database (BirdSource). However, a groundtruthing program need not use
      precisely this kind of tool to manage its information. Regardless of a par-
      ticular program's data distribution/collection needs, the experiences of the
      BirdCast program may provide valuable insights.

      5.1   Haw  DOES  BROUNDTRUTH i N B
             COMPLEMENT  RADAR ANALYSIS?
                                                                           Dedicated birdwatchers are often eager
                                                                           to contribute their observations to
The eyes and ears of a careful observer offer the most direct indication
of the number and  type of birds in a  particular area.  Therefore, such  groundtruthing programs.
observations can serve as a means of calibrating, validating, and supple-
menting NEXRAD images of bird migration. As described in Chapter 4, NEXRAD does
not provide a direct sampling of the number of birds traveling through a particular area and
provides very little information  about what kind of birds are being detected. All it can do is
record the radio reflectivity at  a particular distance and angle from the station. During
spring migration in particular, there appears to be a high correlation  between nights when
radar shows bird-like signals and mornings when birders see a lot  of new birds  on the
ground in nearby areas.  Radar ornithologists are  still in the process of developing relation-
ships  between radar  activity at  a particular place and time and groundtruthing  results at
other places and times.  Therefore, there is heightened value in a coordinated program of
groundtruthing and radar imaging—the connection between the two data sets is as valuable
as the sets themselves. In the future, for  example, it may be possible to track the migration
of individual species  of birds using a  combination of radar and extensive groundtruthing.
      BRDUNDTRUTHINB OBSERVATIONS
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                 5.2  Haw DOES  BIRDCAST CONDUCT
                       ITS  GROUNDTRUTHING PROGRAM?
                 Over an average week of operation, the BirdCast Web site receives more than 300 reports
                 of bird activity from its volunteers. The project then presents this information (in the form
                 of charts and graphs) to the Web site's visitors,  who number over 80,000 in a 2-month
                 migratory  season. As these figures indicate, BirdCast's groundtruthing program requires
                 significant information technology infrastructure and program  administration. Whether
                 your organization is planning a groundtruthing program of similar scope or one that will
                 be smaller  scale, a knowledge of the methods and experiences of BirdCast in this endeavor
                 is likely to  be helpful.
                                                                            I N FRASTRU CTU RE
                 5.2.1  BIRDCAST'S  IN FOR MAT ION MANAGEMENT
                 As described in Chapter 3, BirdCast's operation relies on a substantial prior investment of
                 time, money, and labor in the establishment of BirdSource's information technology infra-
                 structure. This infrastructure consists of:
                     * Software: an Oracle database customized to handle groundtruthing data, JAVA
                      applications to process the information requests of users of the BirdSource Web
                      site, and a CIS tool that allows users to specify the latitude and longitude of their
                      observation site by zooming in from a map of the mid-Atlantic United States.
                     * Hardware: A four-processor server computer to maintain the BirdSource web site,
                      an uninterruptable power supply and tape backup system, and Internet connection
                      service for the computer.

                     * Support Staff: one full-time network administrator and five JAVA programmers.

                 This infrastructure, which cost $2.5 million to establish, is larger and more robust than
                 what is necessary to simply record and present groundtruthing information. One proposed
                 bird monitoring program, based in the Chicago area, expects to meet its information tech-
                 nology needs for 2 years at a cost of $100,000 per year. A potentially economical option
                 for  supporting groundtruthing programs may  be  to  collaborate with BirdSource staff at
                 Cornell's Laboratory of Ornithology. BirdSource staff expect that they could provide com-
                 plete information technology  support for an  initial outlay of $35,000-50,000 and a
                 maintenance fee of $5,000-10,000  per year. Depending on  the goals and needs of your
                 organization's groundtruthing program, it may not even be necessary to  spend  this much.
                 One group planning to set up a groundtruthing program in the Chicago area has estimated
                 that they could  store their data using spreadsheet software  and would not even need to
                 dedicate an entire Windows workstation to  the task.

                 5.3  BIRDCAST'S ADMINISTRATIVE  PROCEDURES
                 BirdCast records the birding observations of both registered and unregistered visitors to its
                 Web site. The former  are called "control" observations and  the latter are called "anony-
                 mous" observations.

                 5.3.1  COLLECTING  CONTROL OBSERVATIONS
                 Control observations are repeated visual inventories of birds obtained by regularly visiting
                 a particular site during a bird migration season. They are made by committed, experienced
                 birders known by or referred to the site's administrator. It is one of the primary tasks of the
                 administrator to identify these individuals, provide them with support and guidance, and
                 monitor and edit their contributions to the database.
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The site administrator actively recruits individuals to serve as control observers through
several avenues:
    * Personal networking within the local birding community.
    * Appeals to local conservation groups, such as chapters of the Audubon Society and
      the Nature Conservancy.
    * Postings to e-mail distribution lists dedicated to birding.
A control observer needs be reasonably experienced at quantifying and identifying birds in
his or her area. He or she must also have enough free time, energy, and commitment to
make frequent visits to an observation site. Ideally, a volunteer should be able to make these
visits during the early morning hours (between sunrise and roughly 9 AM) when migratory
birds are most active. It is also very helpful for a volunteer to be able to recognize birds by
their songs as this is the most rapid way of identifying the presence of a particular species
of bird. (The  Cornell ornithological laboratory makes recordings of bird songs that volun-
teers can use for training purposes.)
At  present, BirdCast has not established a formal procedure for screening  observers or
checking their qualifications, as most control observers are friends or colleagues of the proj-
ect organizers. Some control observers, however, are individuals unknown to BirdCast staff
who have spontaneously approached the project about participating. It is assumed that an
inexperienced birdwatcher would tend to be discouraged by the time commitment required
in making regular observations over a prolonged period, so there is a process of "self-screen-
ing" inherent in signing up volunteers.
/•r
    Lessons Learned: How frequently should control observers go into the field?

   In the experience of BirdCast organizers, control observers should ideally make five visits to a sin-
   gle observation site during each week of a data collection period. A typical observation session takes
   between 1 and 2 hours, depending on the observer's time constraints and the abundance of birds
   at the observation site. This schedule of frequent observations increases the likelihood of "catch-
   ing" the migration of different species of birds through an area. The goal is to have the observation
   record reflect the variability of the birds' presence or absence at a particular location rather than the
   variability of the observer's presence or absence.

   In the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, spring migration period takes place over a relatively
   short period of time: roughly from April 15 to May 15. Fall migration, however, is more difficult to
   observe completely because it takes place over a more extended period of time. In the fall of 2000,
   BirdCast experienced significant difficulties with volunteer burn-out when it asked control observers
   to work from September 1 to November 1. In the future,  BirdCast is planning to implement a stag-
   gered observation schedule that will keep observers' commitment limited to approximately 1 month.
   Volunteers living at higher latitudes  will begin and end their observing earlier than will volunteers
   living at lower latitudes.
BRDUNDTRUTHINB  OBSERVATIONS
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                 Once the site administrator has identified a new control observer, she briefs him or her
                 about the standard observation protocols used by the project and issues that person a new
                 User ID for logging into the site. Also, new control observers need to be shown how to use
                 BirdSource's interactive map to estimate the latitude and longitude of their observation site.

                 The interactive map is a software component of the BirdSource Web  site in which users
                 "zoom in" to their observation site by clicking on a map of the United States. Once a user has
                 selected a particular location, the software calculates that location's latitude and longitude.
                 Once they have registered and  determined the location of their observation site, control
                 observers use their User ID to access data entry pages on the BirdCast Web site where they
                 can enter:

                     * The date and time of their observations.
                     * Whether or not they recorded every species that they saw.
                     * The birders' estimation of their own skill at identification.

                     * The physical environment and weather at the place of observation.
                     * The numbers and kinds of different birds counted.
                     * Any additional information not provided elsewhere in the form.

                 The administrator has ongoing responsibilities  for answering any questions the control
                 observer  may have and for editing the data provided by the observer. The purpose of this
                 editing process is to ensure that the data provided by the control observers is of a high qual-
                 ity. Editing  requires some local  birding  expertise—one must review  the  submitted
                 observations and make judgment calls about whether they are reasonable, questionable, or
                 obviously erroneous. The administrator flags control observations that appear problematic
                 and follows up with  the observer to resolve her concerns. The following signs, when they
                 appear repeatedly or in combination  with  each other, may cast doubt on an observer's
                 results:
                     * Species that are extremely rare for the area, particularly in large numbers.
                     * Species that are extremely rare for a particular time  of year (particularly record-set-
                       ting early sightings of a species).
                     * The omission of migratory species that are quite common for the particular area
                       and time.
                 None of these signs is a certain indication that a set of observations is invalid, but they may
                 prompt the BirdCast administrator to request additional information  from the observer,
                 such as sketches, notes, photographs, and the names of co-observers. Following is a sample
                 letter from BirdCast that requests additional information in a non-confrontational manner:
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                                                                     May 10, 2001
Dear Mr./Ms
I'm interested in learning more about the birds you've reported to our project and the site
from which you're reporting. As you probably know, you've had some extraordinary sight-
ings during the two days for which you've reported. Standard procedure for our BirdSource
projects is that we request verification for unusual reports before the data is entered in the
database.
Several of these would be all time early records for your immediate area and the numbers
you report for some species are unusually large. On the other hand, your report for a species
like Yellow-rumped Warbler is very low.
We are making a great effort to report only species and numbers  that were well seen and
absolutely identified.  Only sightings  of this type will give our project credibility and, in the
long run, benefit bird conservation efforts. With this in mind,  would you  review your
reports that I have listed below and answer the following questions?
       Was the bird well-seen? for how long?
       Is this a positive identification? Which of the field marks were observed?
       Was the bird photographed? Was it seen by additional observers?
       Were notes taken?  Sketches made?
American Black Duck - Wild bird? late
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - early
Golden-crowned Kinglet - late
Philadelphia Vireo - 1 unusual, 2 extremely rare
Bay-breasted Warbler - early, 2
Cerulean Warbler - early, 2
Mourning Warbler - early
Yellow-breasted Chat - early, 2
Rusty Blackbird - late, unusual, 10 birds
I would also like to have more information about the site where you observed these species.
Is this land named?  Is it public or private?
Thanks very much for providing us with this information and thanks for your patience.

Sally Conyne
Audubon
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BRDUNDTRUTHINB OBSERVATIONS

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BirdCast also has a number of proactive strategies for limiting the amount of potentially
unreliable observations that it receives. These strategies include:
    * Putting caps on the number of individual birds of a particular species that can be
      reported.
    * Phrasing data entry questions clearly to avoid misunderstanding.
    * Offering assistance in the identification of birds to volunteers.
    * Creating area-specific checklists of birds for volunteers to use in data entry. This
      prevents the reporting of obviously erroneous reports (e.g., roadrunners in upstate
      New York)
                       Lessons Learned: Data Entry Burdens

  One  of the lessons that BirdCast organizers  learned when  they established their volunteer
  groundtruthing program was that they needed to minimize the data entry requirements for their vol-
  unteers. Some of the first volunteer observers complained that the observation protocols took too
  long  to key into the computer. BirdCast has reduced the length of its protocol since then to make
  volunteers' jobs easier.
5.3.2  COLLECTING  ANONYMOUS  OBSERVATIONS
Visitors to the BirdCast Web site do not need to register or commit to making a schedule
of repeated observations in order to submit data to the BirdSource database. Any birder vis-
iting the site may submit information as an "anonymous" observer. Strictly speaking, these
observers are not always anonymous because they are encouraged to  submit their e-mail
address along with their  observations. The term is meant in distinction to the control
observers, who are either known by or referred to the BirdCast staff.
The data entry form used by anonymous observers and the data they submit are very sim-
ilar to those of control observers. There are number of differences, however, between how
control and anonymous observations are handled. Unlike control observations, anonymous
observations do not include information about the latitude and longitude of the observa-
tion site. Instead, observers simply list the postal code of their area. Also, BirdCast does not
(at present) conduct any quality control editing of anonymous observations. BirdCast staff
currently do not have enough time to manually edit the anonymous observations, which
are  of somewhat less value than the control observations because they are not made regu-
larly.  BirdCast  hopes, however, that  in  the  future  they will  be able to  institute
computer-based "filters" that will provide automated quality control of anonymous data.

5.3.3  DISPLAYING  GROUNDTRUTHING INFORMATION
Visitors to the BirdCast Web site have two options for displaying observation data. They
may either:

    * Select a single observation location. The user then views a table (such as Figure 2 and
      Figure 3) of different kinds of birds counted at that single observation location (either
      an anonymous observation postal code or a specific control site). The table also lists the
      numbers of each kind of bird, and the numbers of reports of each kind of bird. The
      user may select whether this table  lists  results for the entire migration period or for a
      specific date.
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         Select a single species of bird. The user then views a graph (such as Figure 4 and Figure
         5) of how many times that bird was sighted during each day of the migration period.
         The graph includes combined information from all the control sites but excludes anony-
         mous observations. This is because anonymous observations are not edited for accuracy
         and are not likely to be made regularly at any single location.
   BirdCast Control Results for:
   Dryden Lake, NY            Lat:    42.4610113
   JAM Dates Combined         Long:   -76.2766158
Species Name
Pied-billed Grebe
Number of
Birds Seen
6
Great Blue Heron 2
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Osprev
Bonaparte's Gull
30
6
2
10
Number of
Reports
2
2
2
2
2
2
                                                  BirdCast Control Results for:
                                                  Chestnut Hill College, PA       Lat:  40.0869233
                                                 IAN Dates Combined         Long: -75.2306741
                   Number of species seen: 6
 Fig 2. Single observation location: Dryden Lake, NY.
Species Name
Canada Goose
Red-tailed Hawk
Tree Swallow
American Robin
Number of
Birds Seen
12
1
6
9
Number of
Reports
1
1
1
1
                                                                 Number of species seen: 4
                                               Fig 3. Single observation location: Chestnut Hill College, PA.
                                                                    BirdCast
                                                                    Green Hemn
        4/12  4/13  4/26   5/3  5(10  5/17  5/24  5/31
                     Date (2001)
Fig 4. Single species count: Canada Goose
                                                        4/12  4/19  4/26   513  5/10  5/17  5/24  5/31
                                                                     Date (2001)
                                                Fig 5: Single species count: Green Heron
GRDUNDTRLJ THING  OBSERVATIONS
25

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                  Chuck Hetzel
                  Hannah Suthers
 MEET Two  BIRDCAST  VOLUNTEERS
 Chuck Hetzel, one of BirdCast's control observers, doesn't
 have to go any farther than his back yard to collect data for
 the project. That's because he's fortunate enough to live at
 the edge of the  Schuylkill  Valley  Nature Center  near
 Philadelphia. Mr. Hetzel first heard  about  BirdCast
 through his  local bird club—the Cornell Laboratory of
 Ornithology was looking for volunteers in his area to host
 bioacoustic monitoring stations in their homes. Through
 this introduction to Cornell's research program, he became
 involved  in  making  regular control observations for
 BirdCast. It usually takes him between 1  and 2 hours to
 record the birds in his backyard, which he does nearly every
 day of the migration period around 7 AM. With more than
 50 years of birding experience, he doesn't  need  to take an
 identification guide into the field with  him; all he needs is
a notepad or  a tape recorder for keeping track of the types
and numbers of birds  that he sees (or hears). Mr. Hetzel
enjoys the extra  motivation to  go  birdwatching  that
BirdCast provides—in sharing his observations through the
BirdCast database he enjoys an extra feeling of accomplish-
 ment and satisfaction about birdwatching.

 Hannah Suthers makes her control observations at an aban-
 doned  108-acre  farm in  central New Jersey. The farm,
 which has recently been converted into a wildlife sanctuary,
 is slowly reverting back to  forest. This  makes it a fascinat-
 ing birding site because the  land's habitat is undergoing
 continual transformation. Ms. Suthers has more than 50
 years  of experience as a bird bander and for more than 20
 years  has been studying how the farm's changing habitat
 has affected the population of resident birds in the  area.
 Now in her  retirement, she continues to publish articles
 related to avian population biology and trains graduate stu-
 dents from nearby Princeton  and Rutgers Universities in
 bird banding. After a  friend  referred her  to the BirdCast
 project, Ms.  Suthers started working as a volunteer for it,
 tallying  migratory birds  at  the sanctuary.  During the
 BirdCast  observation period, she aims to be in the field on
a daily basis, tallying birds  by sight and sound. She carries
a small notebook with her and jots down her tally in alpha
codes. A counting session can take anywhere between 1.5 to
4 hours, depending on the time of season and how many
different species are present. It can be tiring getting up so
early in the morning on a regular basis, she  admits. Though
she does not need to go out as frequently to spot-map the
singing males on their breeding territory, she feels that to
get an accurate picture of migratory movements one needs
to go into the field daily. One of the most pleasant aspects
of the work is the opportunity to greet all her "old friends"
as they fly through her area each migration season.
26
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    EDUCATION  AND  OUTREACH
      This chapter provides guidance on setting up and maintaining an education and out-
      reach component of a bird migration monitoring program. Section 6.1 provides tips
      on developing an outreach plan for your program, with a focus on defining goals, key
messages, and target audiences. Section 6.2 describes a variety of outreach tools that can be
used, and provides examples of outreach materials developed by  the  BirdCast project.
Section 6.3 describes the challenge of evaluating the  success of your education and outreach
program, and Section 6.4 lists some additional sources of information for education and
outreach.
The information in this chapter is designed primarily for managers who  are implementing
bird migration monitoring programs, as well as for education and outreach workers who are
responsible for communicating about these programs.

S.I   DEVELOPING  AN  DUTREACH  PLAN
BirdCast represents a  milestone for radar ornithology, a  field that has evolved slowly for
more than 30 years,  advanced by  a handful of scientists working mostly in isolation.
BirdCast's breakthrough is that it is  the first program to bridge the gap between these sci-
entists, collecting  and interpreting radar  images in their labs using highly specialized
technologies and techniques, and the general public. The founders of BirdCast also recog-
nized that "a picture is worth a thousand words"— a live visual image, such as a radar image
of birds migrating, or digital photos or videos from groundtruthers, would more likely stim-
ulate action than just a verbal  description of migration.

Communication is at the heart of the BirdCast mission: to provide the public with timely
information on the status of bird migrations, and to  educate land managers and the broader
public about  actions they can take  to assist birds during their migration  and reduce the
number of birds that die  while passing through. An effective education and outreach pro-
gram, therefore, is key to  the project's success.
BirdCast's education and outreach  program is run primarily by the National Audubon
Society. Staff from Audubon's  Citizen Science Program work together with Audubon's pub-
lic relations department to create educational materials, write and distribute press releases,
develop and deliver presentations, and  conduct direct outreach to land managers. Other
BirdCast partners (including staff from EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs, EPA Region 3,
Cornell University's  Laboratory  of Ornithology,  and  Clemson  University's Radar
Ornithology Laboratory)  contribute to the outreach  effort as well, mostly by delivering pre-
sentations.  In addition, Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences, a founding partner of
BirdCast, developed many of the project's original outreach materials.
The first step to creating an effective education and outreach program of your own  is  to
develop an outreach plan. This plan will provide a blueprint for action. It does not have to
be lengthy or complicated, but it should define four things: What are your outreach goals?
Who are the target audiences?  What are the key messages and types of information that you
want to deliver? And what outreach tools will you use  to reach these audiences? Let's  look
at each of these questions in turn.
EDUCATION  AND  DUTREACH                                                         zv

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                 6.1.1   WHAT ARE YOUR  OUTREACH  GOALS?
                 Defining your outreach goals is the first step in developing an education and outreach plan.
                 Outreach goals should be clear, simple, action-oriented statements about what you hope to
                 accomplish through outreach. Here are some sample goal statements that a BirdCast-type
                 program might develop for its outreach effort:
                     * Convince  all local television stations in the region to give a brief report on bird
                       migration  after the weather forecast, or to run at least one report on bird migration
                       per migratory season.
                     * Place a story on bird migration in the major newspaper of each state in the region.
                     * Deliver a presentation to each bird club or Audubon chapter in the region.

                     * Conduct direct outreach (e.g., via letter or phone call) to the managers of all public
                       parks in your region.

                     * Attract 100,000 visitors per year to your Web site.
                 Where possible,  outreach goals should be measureable. This will help you when it comes
                 time to evaluate the success of your program (see Section 6.3). Abstract statements of good
                 intention (e.g., "increase the public's appreciation of the wonders of bird migration") do
                 not make effective outreach goals, even if such statements accurately describe one of your
                 main motivations for starting a BirdCast-type program.

                 S.I.2  WHO  ARE  YOUR TARGET  AUDIENCES?
                 The second step  in developing an outreach plan is to clearly identify the target audience or
                 audiences for your outreach effort. As illustrated in the sample goals above, outreach goals
                 often define their target audiences. You might want to refine and add to your goals after
                 you have specifically considered which audiences you want to reach.
                 The target audience for the BirdCast project is broadly  defined as land managers and the
                 general public. Yet within these groups there are a number of sub-audiences, each with spe-
                 cialized interests. For example, among the general  public there are (according to a 1998
                 report of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) roughly 55 million people who consider them-
                 selves bird enthusiasts, and within that number there is a smaller pool of deeply committed
                 birders. Your goals for  conducting outreach to these committed birders may be different
                 than your goals for the general public. Likewise, the category of "land managers" includes
                 park managers, city officials, utility land managers, building managers, golf course man-
                 agers, and others. Here again, you will want to tailor your message for the specific audience.
                 Before you can begin tailoring messages for your different audiences, however, you will
                 need to develop  a profile of their situations, interests, and concerns. This profile will help
                 you  identify the  most effective ways of reaching the audience. For each  target audience,
                 consider:

                     * What is their current level of knowledge about bird migration and birds  in general?
                     * What do you want them to know about birds and migration? What actions would
                       you like them to take?
                     * What information is likely to be of greatest interest to the audience? What informa-
                       tion will they likely want to  know once  they  develop  some awareness  of bird
                       migration  issues?
                     * How much time are they likely to give to receiving and assimilating the information?
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CHAPTER  6

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    * How does this group generally receive information?
    * What professional, recreational, and domestic activities does this group  typically
      engage in that might provide avenues for distributing outreach products? Are there
      any  organizations  or  centers that represent or serve the audience and might be
      avenues for disseminating your outreach products?
Profiling an audience essentially involves putting yourself "in your audience's shoes." Ways
to do this include consulting with individuals or organizations who represent or are mem-
bers of the audience, consulting with colleagues who have successfully developed other
outreach products for the audience, and using your imagination.
S. 1 .3
         WHAT ARE  THE KEY MESSAGES AND TYPES
         OF  INFORMATION  THAT You  WANT  TO  DELIVER?
The next step in planning is to think about what you want to communicate. In particular
at this  stage, think about the key points, or "messages,"  you want to communicate.
Messages are the  "bottom line" information you want your  audience to walk away with,
even if they forget the details.
A message is usually phrased as a brief (often one-sentence) statement. For example:
    * Populations of migratory birds are declining and vulnerable.
    * The BirdCast Web site provides you with real-time information about the  status of
      bird migrations.
    * You can take steps to help protect migrating birds.
Outreach products often will have multiple related messages. Consider what messages you
want to deliver to each target audience group, and in what level of detail. As stated above,
you will want to tailor different messages for different audiences.
Let's look at how  this can be done. For instance, let's say that you are writing a press release
for distribution to newspapers and other general interest publications. Your audience, the
average reader of these publications, has relatively little interest in birds. What should be
the focus of your  press release? Probably you will want to concentrate on a few simple mes-
sages: that bird  migration is a fascinating and magnificent phenomena; that populations of
migratory birds are declining and vulnerable; and that individuals can help protect migra-
tory birds through simple steps such as keeping cats indoors, providing food and water, and
avoiding pesticide use during the peak of migration (you would probably time your release
for distribution just prior to peak migration).

On the other hand, if you were composing a press release for placement in bird club
newsletters,  you would probably spend less time preaching the wonders of migration (after
all, here you would be preaching to  the  converted) and more time addressing  complex
issues of special interest to birders: how the technical aspects of radar ornithology work,
how birders can attract  birds to residential yards by creating a landscape of native plants,
how to choose pesticides that cause less ecological harm. Your press release could  also pro-
vide detailed information on how birders  can participate as citizen scientists in BirdCast's
groundtruthing efforts. (See Appendix A, pages 49 to 50, for an example of a press release
for bird club newsletter.) Alternatively, you could choose to deliver all of this information
through a presentation at a bird club meeting.
EDUCATION  AND  DUTREACH
29

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                                                                Tall, brightly lit buildings threaten migratory birds by
                                                                disrupting their ability to navigate.
Here's another scenario: Let's say you are target-
ing the managers of a number of large buildings
in a downtown area.  In this case, your message
might be very focused  and simple:  that tall,
brighdy lit buildings threaten  migratory birds
by disrupting their ability to navigate, and that
building managers can prevent bird deaths  by
turning off lights during peak  migrations. But
the real challenge here would be reaching these
building managers with your  message. Could
you issue a press release  or media  advisory?
Possibly, but even if the local newspapers picked
up the story, there's no guarantee that the target
audience would read it. No, in  this case, the
only way to ensure that your message reaches the target is to contact the building managers
directly through a letter or phone call. In fact, you might have to follow up with repeated let-
ters or phone  calls. This type  of direct outreach is time-consuming and can be a drain on
resources, but in some circumstances  it is absolutely necessary.

6.1.4   WHAT OUTREACH  TOOLS  WILL  You  USE?
As the above examples illustrate, one of the challenges of conducting outreach and educa-
tion, besides tailoring your message for the intended audience, is choosing the best outreach
tool or approach for delivering your message. There are many different types of outreach
products in print, audiovisual, electronic, and event  formats  (outreach tools used by the
BirdCast project are  described in the next section). It's up to you to select the most appro-
priate products to meet your goals within your resource and time constraints. Questions to
consider when selecting products include:

    * How much information does your audience really need to have? How much does
      your audience need to know now? The simplest, most effective, most straightforward
      product generally is most effective.
    * Is the product likely to appeal to the target audience? How much time will it take to
      interact with the product? Is the audience likely to make that time?
    * How easy and cost-effective will the  product be to distribute or, in the case of an
      event, organize?
    * How many people is this product likely to reach? For an event, how many people are
      likely to attend?
    * What time frame is needed to develop and distribute the product?
    * How much will it cost to develop the product?  Do you have access to the talent and
      resources needed for development?

    * What other related products are already available? Can you build on existing products?
    * When will the material be out of date? (You probably will  want  to  spend fewer
      resources on products with shorter lifetimes.)
    * Would it be effective  to have  distinct phases of products over time? For example, a
      first phase  of products could be designed to raise awareness, followed at a later date
      by a second phase of products to encourage changes in behavior.
3D
                                                                    CHAPTER  6

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    * How newsworthy is the information? Information with inherent news value may be
      rapidly and widely disseminated by the media.
The key here is to make good use of the resources available to you. In the best of all worlds,
you would have the time and budget to personally contact every land manager in your
region and to craft customized press releases for every type of publication and every audi-
ence.  But it  is unlikely that you will have the resources to do everything you'd like to  do.
The goal, then, is to pick your spots wisely. Reach as many people as you can, but also focus
on those audiences that  are most receptive to your message. If you have only limited time
for  direct outreach, concentrate on land managers who control critical habitat.
6.2
EDUCATION  AND  DUTREACH  TOOLS
This section describes a variety of outreach tools used by the BirdCast project. Examples of
specific outreach materials developed by BirdCast can be found in Appendix A.

6.2.1  BIRDCAST  WEB SITE
In addition to hosting radar images, daily migration forecasts, and groundtruthing data,
the BirdCast Web site (http://www.BirdCast.org) also contains an array of outreach and edu-
cational information designed to assist the public in the protection of migrating birds.
Major educational pieces on the site include:

    * Guidance on appropriate timing and application of pesticides to minimize birds'
      exposure.
    * Tips on preventing bird deaths caused by collisions with household windows.
    * Advice on controlling domestic cats to prevent predation on migratory birds.
    * Information on how tall buildings and radio towers can disorient birds, causing them
      to crash or drop from exhaustion.

    * Tips on bird feeding and watering, and on providing habitat for migratory birds dur-
      ing stopovers.
Many of these educational pieces are provided in hard copy in Appendix A of this hand-
book. Others can be found online (go to http://www.birdcast.org/ucanhelp.html). If you are
developing a  BirdCast-type program of your own, you can use these pieces as  a model to
stimulate ideas for your own outreach language. If you are a member of the public inter-
ested in birds and migration, you can read these materials to learn about steps that you can
take  to protects migrants.
One of BirdCast's mottos is: "Engage, educate, activate." The BirdCast Web site is  a key
tool  for accomplishing each of these goals. The site is designed to be both attractive and
interactive. The homepage, for example, features a colorful poster by Charley Harper, enti-
tled  "Mystery of the Missing  Migrants," along with a species key to help visitors identify
the birds depicted in the poster. Any birder visiting the site is welcome to submit data on
his or her bird observations (see Section 5.3.2, Collecting Anonymous Observations), and
visitors can also  search the database of groundtruthing observations to view tables and sum-
mary graphs. In addition, throughout the site there are  numerous links that visitors can
follow to gather additional information and access other resources.
EDUCATION  AND  DUTREACH
                                                                                       3 1

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                 The goal of all this interactivity is to engage visitors, interest them in the plight of migra-
                 tory birds, and give them a chance to participate in protecting and researching the lives of
                 migrants. The outreach materials are there to educate them. The site also features several
                 text pieces on the aesthetic and economic values of migrating birds, along with the beauti-
                 fully written preface to Scott Weidensaul's book, Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere
                 with Migratory Birds, which BirdCast was able to use with the permission of the author.

                 6.2.2   POSTERS  AND  OTHER  PRINT  MATERIALS
                 Because  BirdCast is a Web-based project, it has developed relatively few educational and
                 outreach materials for distribution in hard  copy. When the project was first launched, a
                 press packet was created for distribution to  reporters and other media outlets, containing
                 news clippings and other outreach materials. But this is no longer in use.
                 The main item that BirdCast partners distribute in hard-copy format is a poster entitled
                 "Audubon Guide for  Healthy Yard and Beyond," which was developed by the National
                 Audubon Society. The poster lists actions that home owners can take to limit pesticide use
                 and create healthy habitats for birds and wildlife. It also includes a guide to home pesti-
                 cides, with information on chemicals, their  uses, their toxicity to wildlife,  and alternatives
                 to the chemicals. Altogether, over 1 million copies of the poster have been distributed
                 through  Audubon  chapter offices,  bird-oriented stores,  parks  departments,  and other
                 groups.
                 To request copies of the poster, e-mail healthyhabitats@audubon.org. A version of the
                 poster can also be found online at:
                 http://www.audubon.org/bird/pesticides/10%20COMs%20boxes.html.
+!r~.
                    Lessons Learned: Conducting Outreach Via Television Stations
                    When BirdCast was first launched, one of the original goals was to encourage television coverage
                    of bird migrations. BirdCast's founders envisioned that there would come a day when weather fore-
                    casters would routinely include migration updates as part of their nightly reports. But that day has
                    unfortunately not yet arrived.

                    As part of its education and outreach  program, BirdCast has made a concerted effort to conduct
                    outreach to newscasters and weather forecasters. The idea has been to combine radar images with
                    photographs and educational information on protecting migrants, creating a package that will
                    appeal to television stations. But so far the results have been discouraging. Though several stations
                    have produced short news pieces on BirdCast, the general response has been that the BirdCast out-
                    reach materials are inappropriate for television in that they lack visual  appeal. Newscasters have
                    stated that the  radar images are too esoteric and difficult to interpret.

                    In the future, the BirdCast project will continue to look for creative ways to package  its outreach
                    materials for television. The Illinois Natural History Survey, another organization that has succeeded
                    at getting a local television station to  make use of NEXRAD images of bird migration, has some
                    ideas for getting television stations interested. The Survey suggested pointing out to television
                    weather forecasters that significant bird migration  usually coincides with "meteorologically boring
                    periods"  when they  might lack weather-related material to discuss. The Survey  also suggested
                    developing  simplified visual displays  that convey  basic information (e.g., presence/absence of
                    birds, relative abundance of birds, general direction of bird movement) in a manner that parallels
                    the other displays on the weather forecast.
32
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6.2.3   PRESS  RELEASES
Press releases are a key tool in BirdCast's education and outreach efforts. Writing a single
press release and distributing it to dozens of publications simultaneously is a cost-effective
way of reaching a large and varied audience.

The National Audubon Society's public relations department leads BirdCast's efforts to
conduct outreach through the media. A PR department is an ideal choice for this job for
two reasons: 1) PR staff have the writing, editing, and outreach skills needed for devel-
oping stories that will  appeal to various  news outlets, and 2)  PR staff already have
contacts and working relationships with individual journalists, editors, and newscasters.
An experienced PR worker knows how to work with people in the media, feeding them
the information they need to get stories into print and on the air.
For BirdCast, the Audubon PR staff have done several rounds of outreach to  the media,
each timed to  coincide with a major migration (spring or fall). Their technique,  which
has produced excellent results so far, has been to write a single, in-depth press  release and
distribute it to a list of roughly 500 reporters whom Audubon has worked with in the
past. (Examples  of these press releases can be found on pages 45 to  48.) In some cases,
Audubon staff precede the press release with a phone call or e-mail to the reporter, meant
to kindle interest in the story. In other cases, Audubon sends the press release first, then
follows  up with an e-mail  or phone call.
Once a  reporter has expressed interest in BirdCast, the PR staff work with him or her as
necessary to get the story into print. Some reporters (maybe half) request  additional
interviews with BirdCast partners or want help identifying a local angle for the story (for
example, a reporter from  a small city newspaper may want to interview  members  of a
local bird club).  Other reporters will develop a story using little more than the informa-
tion and quotes  found in the press release and other materials found online.
This type of personal contact with members of the press is crucial, as is the strategy of tar-
geting individual reporters or newscasters. The odds of placing a story fall drastically if you
just send a press release to a news desk or editorial department,  since most publications
are inundated  with dozens (if not hundreds) of press releases daily. Audubon's PR staff
always send press releases directly to  a particular reporter, and virtually every story they've
placed has been written  by a reporter whom Audubon had worked with in the past.

What if you don't have a contact at  a particular publication? One thing you can do is to
read some back  issues of the publication, looking for a reporter who has  demonstrated
some interest in topics related to your project. If the publication is a daily newspaper, it
will likely have a beat reporter who focuses primarily on science and/or the environment.
Outdoors writers often have an  interest in bird migration,  especially if their columns
cover hunting  and waterfowl migration. BirdCast has placed several stories with garden-
ing columnists, and numerous technology reporters have also written about the project,
focusing on the BirdCast Web site or on the project's use of advanced radar technology.
Once you have targeted a particular reporter, write him or her a personal e-mail or call
directly. Pitch the story, keeping your presentation short and to the point.  Ask the
reporter if he or she would be interested in reading your press release (or, better yet, sim-
ply attach the  release  to an e-mail as an electronic file). Also, it  never hurts to
demonstrate that you are familiar with a reporter's work by complimenting or mention-
ing some article  that he or she wrote in the past.
EDUCATION  AND  DUTREACH
33

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                  How many publications or news outlets should you target? The simple answer is, as many as
                  possible. However,  there  are  different ways  to  use the resources available to you.  One
                  approach would be to identify a limited number of publications that you view as critical, and
                  then to spend extra time and resources doing everything you can to place a story with them
                  (this might involve customizing your press release or following up repeatedly with a reporter).
                  If you don't have existing contacts with the news  outlets in your area, this type of intensive,
                  focused effort might be necessary.
                  Audubon's PR staff have taken the approach of writing one major press release for each migra-
                  tory season (spring and fall) and distributing it to hundreds of media oudets throughout the
                  mid-Atlantic flyway, from New York to Maryland and the Washington, D.C. area. Audubon's
                  staff spend virtually no  time customizing press releases  for particular publications, though
                  they have  issued press  releases for particular  occasions.  For example, in  September 2000,
                  Audubon issued a spur-of-the-moment press release urging health officials not to spray for
                  West Nile Virus on a weekend when BirdCast was predicting that a large wave of migratory
                  birds would pass through the area. (See pages 47 to 48 for a copy of this release.)
                  Audubon's primary goal each migratory season has been to place a story in the major paper
                  of each state in the region, with  the idea that smaller papers will pick up the story after see-
                  ing it in a major paper (this has turned out to be true). The results of this PR effort have  been
                  excellent. More than 100 articles on BirdCast appeared in spring 2000, including prominent
                  articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and
                  other major publications. Articles also  appeared in virtually every Audubon chapter and inde-
                  pendent bird club  newsletter from northern Virginia  to southern New York. Additionally,
                  BirdCast was the subject of stories in Scientific American and National Audubon magazines,
                  and the project was also featured on National Public Radio.
+!r~.
Lessons Learned: Dealing with the Redundancy Issue
Audubon's PR staff have found that one of the main challenges associated with conducting BirdCast
outreach through the media is the issue of redundancy. Birds migrate through the mid-Atlantic fly-
way twice each year, in  spring and fall. Ideally, BirdCast would like to have the media cover both
migrations, every year. However, once a publication has covered the story once or twice, reporters
and editors no longer consider it newsworthy.

Audubon's PR staff constantly search for creative ways to work around this problem. One strategy
is to look for a "news peg" or tie-in, some newsworthy happening that can provide the basis for an
article. For example, you might craft a press release about International Migratory Bird Day (an
annual event set on the second Saturday in May), and slip in some information about your program
within the body of the text. Audubon staff used a similar approach when they sent copies of the
poster "Audubon Guide for Healthy Yard and Beyond," to all of the reporters in their database;
the idea was to generate  articles about the effects of pesticides on migrating birds and other wildlife,
with BirdCast as a subtext.

The key point here is that your program doesn't have to be the main focus of every press release
you send out. Look again at the press release on pages 47 to 48. The main message of this release
was an urgent recommendation that health officials not spray for West Nile Virus on a weekend of
intensive bird migration. Yet the press release also managed to provide a thorough description of
the BirdCast project, and it also touched on a number of other important messages: the decline in
numbers of migrating birds; their vulnerability to pesticides and other man-made threats; and steps
individuals can take to protect migrants.
34
                                                                    CHAPTER  6

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                                       Large areas of open or undeveloped land, such as city parks,
                                       provide important habitat for migrating birds.
6.2.4  DIRECT OUTREACH TO  LAND  MANAGERS,
         BUILDING  MANAGERS,  AND  OTHERS
Property managers (including park managers, city officials, utility land managers, building
managers, golf course managers, and others) are a key target for BirdCast's outreach and
education efforts. Many property managers, especially in urban areas, control large chunks
of open or undeveloped land that  pro-
vide important habitat for  migrating
birds. These managers can help protect
migrants by avoiding pesticide applica-
tions  during migratory stopovers  and
by considering the birds' needs when
making other management decisions.
BirdCast relies on direct communica-
tion when  conducting  outreach  to
property  managers.  This  typically
involves  calling or  writing property
managers a few times a year to update
them  on the status of bird migrations
and to  remind them of the need for
environmentally responsible manage-
ment  practices.  In general, BirdCast
has found direct outreach to  be a relatively time-consuming process (especially in compar-
ison to outreach through  the media, where a much larger audience can be reached with a
single press release). In the future, the project may attempt to make more use of volunteers
in its direct outreach efforts.
Following are a few examples of effective direct outreach, taken from the work of BirdCast
and other groups:
    * In Philadelphia, BirdCast has worked closely with the Fairmount Park Commission
      to encourage environmentally responsible land management and to raise awareness
      of the plight of migrating birds. The  Commission oversees a system of parks, golf
      courses, and baseball fields in the city, and works with other land and utilities man-
      agers in the  Philadelphia area. BirdCast wrote to alert the Commission about the
      value of the parks' habitat to migrating birds and the timing of migration. BirdCast
      provided copies of the poster "Audubon Guide for Healthy Yard and Beyond," for
      the commission to distribute, and provided all facility managers under their juris-
      diction with guidance on environmentally responsible pesticide application (e.g.,
      how to alter the use of specific chemicals and minimize the impacts on migrants).
    * The City of Chicago and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have signed an innova-
      tive "Treaty  for Birds," which features an effort by downtown building owners to
      turn off their lights during migration periods. Members of the mayor's Wildlife and
      Nature  Committee worked  with Chicago's  Building Owners  and  Managers
      Association to spread the word to owners of downtown skyscrapers. Members of the
      Bird Conservation Network  assembled the information needed to convince building
      owners that  this action was  warranted, and helped to identify buildings that were
      known for their high bird mortality.
                                                                                          /•r
EDUCATION AND DUTREACH
                                                                                               35

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                     * In the Chicago area, a partnership of researchers, government scientists, city officials,
                       and conservationists is proposing to use radar ornithology to  identify key stopover
                       habitat  for migrating birds. The partners will then  use direct outreach to educate
                       land managers about the habitat needs of migrating birds, and to ask them to take
                       steps  to protect and enhance bird habitat (e.g., by controlling the spread of buck-
                       thorn, an invasive plant that impacts biodiversity).

                  6.2.5  PRESENTATIONS
                  BirdCast  partners regularly deliver presentations  on the project to school groups, bird
                  clubs, American Birding Association meetings, Audubon chapters, and other groups. The
                  partners have developed several PowerPoint presentations for this purpose. These include:
                     * An overview of the project.
                     * A more detailed presentation on how BirdCast integrates multiple monitoring tech-
                       niques (radar, groundtruthing, acoustic monitoring)  to achieve a unified analysis of
                       bird migration.

                     * A presentation focusing on the radar ornithology component.

                  All of these  presentations make use of screen captures from the BirdCast Web site, sample
                  radar images, and graphs from the groundtruthing database to give the audience  a genuine
                  feel for how BirdCast works.

                  6.2.6  LISTSERVS
                  A ListServ is an automated system that automatically redistributes e-mail to  names on a
                  mailing list. Users can subscribe to a mailing list by sending an e-mail note to a mailing list
                  they learn about; the ListServ will automatically add the name and distribute future e-mail
                  postings to every subscriber.

                  There are  numerous bird-oriented ListServs around the country. Some of these have a regional
                  focus, and are  used by birders to compare field notes and share notable sightings. Others are
                  devoted to bird conservation, activism,  and other topics of general interest. For an index of
                  ListServs administered by the National Audubon Society, go to http://list.audubon.org/archives/.
                  The American  Birding Association also maintains  a state-by-state list of birding  ListServs,
                  available at http://www. americanbirding. org/resources/reschat. htm.
                  BirdCast's education and outreach program utilizes ListServs as a medium for distributing
                  information about the program, such as press releases and announcements. ListServs make
                  an ideal tool for targeting an audience of committed birders. They are also cost effective,
                  since there is no charge for subscribing to (or posting messages on) most ListServs.
                  BirdCast has also occasionally used ListServs as a tool for recruiting birders for the project's
                  groundtruthing efforts.  By monitoring  the  discussions at particular regional  ListServs,
                  BirdCast  staff have been able to identify birders who  are both committed and skilled and
                  then contact them  directly via e-mail. For  more information  on recruiting birders  for
                  groundtruthing, see  Section 5.3.1.
36
CHAPTER 6

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G.3  EVALUATING THE  EFFECTIVENESS
      OF  DUTREACH  EFFORTS
BirdCast has found no easy or cost-effective way of measuring the success of its education
and outreach program. Since the ultimate goal of the program is to encourage behavior
changes (e.g., changes in the way people use pesticides), the only true measure of success
would be to document behavior changes on a large scale. Doing this is beyond the scope
and means of the project.
Due to these limitations, BirdCast's partners have been forced to rely on other indicators
as a measure of the program's effectiveness. For example:
    * Between September 1 and October  21, 2000, the BirdCast Web site  received
      1,867,163 "hits" and 147,423 visitors. These numbers show, among other things,
      that many people are returning to the site multiple times.
    * In the spring  of 2001,  roughly 100  to 150 people per week  were submitting
      "anonymous" bird observations to the BirdCast database. (See Section 5.3.2 for more
      information on collecting anonymous observations.)
    * More  than  100  articles  on BirdCast appeared in the spring of 2000, including
      prominent articles in major publications such as the Philadelphia Inquirer, New York
      Times, Wall Street Journal, and USAToday. The combined readership of these pub-
      lications is in the many millions.
If nothing else, these numbers  indicate that BirdCast has reached thousands  (if not mil-
lions)  of people, raising their awareness about the plight of migratory birds and things they
can do to help. The numbers also seem to show that thousands of people are engaged in
the project and are participating on some level (for example, by returning to the BirdCast
Web site repeatedly, or by submitting their own  bird observations). Overall, it appears that
BirdCast is succeeding in its mission: to engage, to educate, and to activate.

S.4  FOR  MORE  INFORMATION
The BirdCast Web site: http:llwww. birdcast. orgl

To access BirdCast's educational pieces  online, go to: http://www.birdcast.org/ucanhelp.html
Scott  Weidensaul's  Living on  the  Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds
(Northpoint Press, 1999) has been called "a nimble summation of current thinking on bird
migration and attendant environmental themes" (Kirkus Reviews).
To request copies of the poster  "Audubon Guide for Healthy Yard and Beyond", devel-
oped by the National Audubon Society, e-mail healthyhabitats@audubon.org. A version
of the poster can also be found online at:
http://www.audubon.org/bird/pesticides/10%20COMs%20boxes.html
For an index of birding ListServs administered by the National Audubon Society, go to
http://list. audubon. orgl archives
The American Birding Association maintains a state-by-state list of birding ListServs, avail-
able at http://www.americanbirding.org/resources/reschat.htm
/•r
EDUCATION AND DUTREACH
     37

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CHAPTER 6

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APPEN DIX   A
BIRDCAST   EDUCATION   AND
DUTREACH   MATERIALS
     PESTICIDES: Is YOUR BACKYARD  SAFE  FOR  BIRDS?
     Our lawns and gardens are like other environments. Plants, insects and other animals all
     interact and affect one another. Altering a part of that system can have unintended effects
     on other components of it. This is an important thing to keep in mind when considering
     whether or not to apply pesticides around the home. Pesticides are not only lethal to pests,
     but to other wildlife as well. Here are three important rules to consider before applying any
     pesticides:
     1. Make sure you actually have a pest problem. Learn to identify pests and to determine
     at what stage  they actually become a problem. Many times people treat for pests that are
     either not present, or not present in large enough numbers to cause problems.

     2. Know your pesticides. Read the labels on your pesticides CAREFULLY. Learn to iden-
     tify what  active ingredients are contained in the product. Read about the potential effects
     these pesticides can have on the other organisms in your yard and community.
     3. Check for alternative treatments. Make it a priority to use the least toxic method to
     control any pests or diseases. Many simple, non-toxic solutions are as easy to employ and
     as effective as chemical solutions.  Contact your local  garden center and Cooperative
     Extension for advice.

     Making your garden or lawn more community friendly isn't difficult and may actually save
     you time  and money. Plus a little bit of education and a few changes around  your home
     can have a lasting effect on migratory bird populations and other wildlife.
     To learn more about the pesticides commonly used around the home, refer to Audubon's
     pesticide summary at http://birdsource.cornell.edu/birdcast/pestsum.html.

     Other useful pesticide web sites:
     EPA's  Office of Pesticide Programs: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides
     The National Pesticides Telecommunication Network:
     http://ace. orst. edu/info/nptn/index. html
     Toxicology and Environmental Health Information: http://sis. nlm. nih.gov/tehip. htm
     Look up all the registered pesticide products containing certain active ingredients:
     http://www. cdpr. ca.gov/docs/epa/epachem. htm
     The American Bird Conservancy's Pesticide Pages:
     http://www. abcbirds. org/pesticideindex. htm
     BIRDCAST  EDUCATION AND  DUTREACH  MATERIALS
39

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                 WINDOWS: AN  INVISIBLE THREAT  TO MIGRATING  BIRDS
                 Fact: Every year millions of birds die when they crash into windows in homes, schools, sky-
                 scrapers, factories, office buildings, and other sites.
                 Why: The transparent quality of windows makes them virtually invisible to birds, often
                 until it is too late to stop short. It is difficult for a bird in flight to distinguish between glass
                 and open space. It may see reflected vegetation in the window, but not the glass itself.
                 What You Can Do: There are different steps you can take in your home to prevent need-
                 less bird deaths caused by invisible windows.
                     * Move your bird feeder. Make sure your bird feeder is either a minimum of 3 meters
                       away from windows, or less than 1 meter away. Birds may still fly into the window
                       if you  move  the feeder closer, but they will not have enough momentum to injure
                       themselves.
                     * Reduce transparency and reflectivity. Change the angle or surface of the window
                       to lessen the  transparency and reflectivity. Cover the window's external surface with
                       a film, change the lighting, and keep all curtains closed or add external blinds.
                     * Mark  the window. You can etch the surface of the glass or streak it with a bar of
                       soap. Hang strips of newspaper or ribbons, place  strips of masking tape on the win-
                       dow.  (These are  more temporary measures in case there  is  a severe problem.
                       However, most of these solutions are inconvenient or unsightly.)
                     * Apply netting. Perhaps the best and most permanent solution is to stretch netting
                       across the windows. Fine black netting that is used to protect berry bushes and fruit
                       trees is available at many garden shops, home centers, and feed mills. Stretch the net-
                       ting across the window or across a frame that can be installed outside the window.
                       Be sure it is stretched with adequate tension to hold it several  inches from the win-
                       dow's surface. Birds may continue to fly towards  the window,  but they will bounce
                       off the mesh unhurt.
                     * Hang  hawk silhouettes. Attach hawk silhouettes to  the window's  surface. These
                       shapes probably decrease collisions because they break up the smooth reflective sur-
                       face and make the glass more  "visible" rather than because  they are shaped like
                       hawks; but, in any case, they seem to help. The silhouettes are most effective if used
                       in multiples.  It is helpful also to attach the silhouettes by a suction cup or a hanging
                       device from the outside so that movement caused  by wind will catch the birds' atten-
                       tion. Most people think that the graceful shapes are interesting rather than unsightly.
                       They're available commercially but they're also easy to make. (See the below instruc-
                       tions.)
4D
APPENDIX  A

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Materials:
    * black, light-weight plastic
    * clear, outdoor tape
    * scissors
    * a template or model of the shape (approximately 8 inches from bill to tail and 12
      inches from wing tip to wing tip)—go to
      http://birdsource. Cornell, edu/birdcast/images/hawk.giffa print-ready template
Simply trace or carefully draw the shape on the plastic, cut out the silhouette, and tape it
to the  outside of the window. Be sure to place several on any large expanse of glass. One
word of caution: you should check with the manufacturers of thermopane windows before
you place anything on the glass surface. If this presents a problem, hang the silhouette from
the sash around the window.                                                                 ^^^
Not  only can you make your house safer for birds, but by making several silhouettes and
giving  them as gifts to friends, neighbors, and even that office building with the big glass
windows down the street, you can also encourage others to make their houses bird-safe.
Other Usefal Window Web Sites:

National Audubon Society: http://www.audubon.org/educate/expert/window.html
BIRDCAST EDUCATION AND DUTREACH  MATERIALS                          41

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                 DOMESTIC  CATs:  A CAUSE  FOR  CONCERN
                 Fact: Every year hundreds  of thousands of birds are killed in the United States by free-
                 roaming domestic cats.
                 Why: Cats are natural hunters. Even your cute house pet is innately a predator. But while
                 hunting is an instinctual behavior, cats are not a natural link in local food chains. Cats were
                 introduced to North America by humans towards the end of the 19th century as a method
                 of pest control. Since then  feline populations have exploded out of control. Their preda-
                 tory activities are an unnatural burden on birds. Keeping your cat well fed does not deter
                 it from attacking birds; hunting birds is a natural behavior unrelated to a cat's hunger. You
                 may not see your cat in action, but if you routinely let it outside it is likely to be killing up
                 to 10 birds every year. With nearly 60 million pet cats in America today, that is a signifi-
                 cant number of bird kills. Combined with many other threats  birds  face, this  adds
                 significantly to their struggle to survive. When you allow your cat to  roam free outside, you
                 are risking the lives of countless birds. You are also risking the life of your cat; those that
                 are kept indoors live happier, healthier, and longer lives.

                 What You Can Do: A cat is  only responding  to a natural instinct. Ultimately you are
                 responsible for your cat and its behavior.
                     * Keep your cat indoors,  especially during the peak migratory seasons in  fall and
                      spring.
                     * Put an  alarm  collar on your cat. Many collars exist which will hamper the cats' stalk
                      and attack. These collars will not harm the cat, but will give an unsuspecting bird
                      ample  warning to escape before a cat strikes. Bells alone will not stop a cat from
                      attacking.

                     * Spay your cat. Make sure you spay or neuter your cat to help keep the cat popula-
                      tion in check.

                     * Help stray cats. In addition to house pets, there are millions  of stray cats in the
                      United States, all a potential threat to native wildlife. You can take in some of these
                      cats or call a local animal shelter.
                     * Keep birdfeeders out  of reach. Make sure the birdfeeder in your yard is not cat acces-
                      sible. Keep it high and away from windows and vegetation.
                     * Join the Indoor Cat Campaign. Encourage others to keep their cats indoors.
                      Check  out the American Bird Conservancy "Cats Indoors" at
                      http://www. abcbirds. orglcatindoo. htm
                 Other Useful Web  Sites:
                 American Bird Conservancy: http://www.abcbirds.org
                 May 13, 2000 is National "Keep Your Cat Indoors" Day
42
APPENDIX A

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MAN-MADE  OBSTACLES  POSE  PROBLEMS
FOR  MIGRATING  BIRDS
Fact: Millions of birds  die every year in building collisions.

Why: Tall buildings and their lights pose a serious threat to migrating birds. The feat of
migration is already a dangerous one with the natural hazards due to weather, predators,
and food scarcity. Birds are exhausted and hungry and yet humans have created tall obsta-
cles to complicate an already difficult journey.

Birds use a variety of different cues to navigate their migration route, including the pattern
of the  stars, topographic features, earth's magnetic fields, and the location of the setting
sun. If any of these cues are disrupted or unclear, for example during cloudy weather, the
birds will have difficulty staying on  their path. The lights of tall buildings and radio tow-
ers only contribute to  this confusion. The lights will often overwhelm natural cues and
disorient the birds. These confused birds will then circle the lighted structures, not because
they are attracted to the light, but because they are following an erroneous and obscure cue.
Blinking lights, which  often adorn radio towers, and bad weather only  further contribute
to the  problem.  Eventually many of these birds will  collide with the building, with each
other, or will drop from exhaustion.

This problem is  increasing as more and more highrise buildings are constructed. The now
popular glass skyscrapers, found brilliantly lit at night, are augmenting the dangers.

Not all birds die from  the collisions. Some will only be stunned with minor injuries, but
often these dazed birds will fall prey to predators, cats and other birds, lurking on city streets.
Many will panic upon finding themselves in the midst of a busy, morning, urban setting.

Another related  danger to nightflying migrants are the  broadcast radio towers which may
stand 200-2000  feet into the night sky. There are around 75,000 towers currently built in
the United States and with the current progress of Internet and satellite technology another
5000 to be added every year. Each of these towers may kill hundreds to thousands of birds
in a single migratory season. Add lights and bad weather to the scenario  and the death rate
grows even higher.

What You Can  Do:

    * Turn off all lights during the peak migration seasons in  fall and spring.

    * Write letters to the owners of tall skyscrapers requesting that lights be turned off at
      night during peak migration periods.

    * If you find a stunned bird,  carefully place it upright inside a brown paper bag and
      transport it to a safe area where it  can recover before resuming its journey.

Other Useful Web Sites:

Fatal Light Awareness Program: http://www.flap.org
Towerkills: http://www.towerkill.com
BIRDCAST  EDUCATION AND  DUTREACH  MATERIALS

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                 NATIVE  PLANTS AND  BIODIVERSITY
                 We have peppered our continent with new houses, sidewalks, lawns, and regimented land-
                 scapes that are relatively devoid of seedpods, berries or other natural food sources. Imagine
                 a different type of "yarden": birds chirping, butterflies flitting, bees busily transporting
                 pollen, and wildlife drinking and bathing in the rainwater you collected in your yarden.
                 You can create this scene, and in so doing, you'll find that you'll have to replace plants less
                 often and  use less pesticide, time, money, and water.
                 To begin the transformation from traditional landscape to nativescape:
                     * Identify your existing plants,  then explore forests and other natural areas to examine
                       differences. Never remove plants from the wild.
                     * For  a gradual transition, retain high maintenance areas close to the house  while
                       establishing a natural garden  toward the edges and back of your property.
                     * Consider neighboring property. Cooperate with your neighbors and extend existing
                       plantings to create larger joint habitat.
                     * Reduce lawn by breaking it up with curved borders around gardens, trees, shrubs and
                       groundcovers to create an "edge effect."
                     * Select native plants to attract birds through all seasons and  allow space for natural
                       growth patterns (less pruning).
                     * Consider tall native grasses (quail and other grassland species are declining), flower-
                       ing  annuals and perennials, and shrubs for shelter and food.
                     * Consider removal of overgrown, unattractive plants that offer little wildlife value.
                     * Add to  your plan a little at a  time. Enjoy a work in progress while reducing the area
                       of lawn.
                     * Plant more than one of a plant, as larger patches are more visible to birds. Plant them
                       in an irregular pattern so that it looks more  natural.
                 AVOID TOXIC CHEMICALS. Birds eat the treated insects and berries.
                 Remember, numerous plant species attract a greater variety of birds and  other wildlife.
                 Check links below to find out more and where you can find native plants.
                 Learn more about how to reduce the use of pesticides, find alternatives, and create a healthy
                 backyard by region
                     * Pesticide and garden tips: Ten Commandments for a Healthy Yard:
                       http-.llwww. audubon. org/bird/pesticides/10%20COMs %20boxes. html
                     * The Environmental Protection Agency's Biopesticides site:
                       http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/
44
APPENDIX A

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    * Backyard Conservation: 1-888-LANDCARE,
      http://www. nhq. nrcs. usda.gov/CCS/Backyard. html
    * Native plants and gardening links: http://plants. usda.gov/plants/links. html
    *• Native plant societies by region: http://www.nanps.org/associations/frame.shtml
    «• Green Landscaping with Native Plants: http://www.epa.gov/greenacres/
    «• Audubon Habitat Collection from Monrovia: 1-888-PLANT IT

Further Reading:
The Bird Garden by Steve Kress
Bird Gardening Book by Donald and Lillian Stokes
The Chemical Free Lawn by Warren Schultz
Going Native by Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Landscaping for Wildlife by Carrol L. Henderson
Redesigning the American Lawn -A Search for Environmental Harmony by Bormann,
Balmori & Geballe

For additional information contact:
Director, Pesticide Initiative & Healthy Habitats
National Audubon Society
HealthyYards@Audubon.org
BIRDCAST EDUCATION  AND  DUTREACH  MATERIALS                          45

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                       CITIZEN SCIENTISTS LEND A HAND TO BIRDS THIS FALL
                          Award-Winning Web Site Combines Technology and Bird Science
                                          to Help Birds Get Home Safely
                 New York, NY August 28, 2000 - This fall, migratory birds will face a number of life
                 threatening challenges in their journey south. In addition to predators, difficult weather,
                 and long distances, birds this year must contend with man made threats including poten-
                 tial poisoning from the pesticides employed to combat the West Nile Virus. With the help
                 of citizen scientists and state-of-the-art forecasting technology, birds migrating through the
                 Mid-Atlantic may get a break.
                 "Using the most advanced migration monitoring techniques,  in combination with the
                 efforts of the public, BirdCast www.BirdCast.orgwi\\ become one of the most effective ways
                 to track bird movement, and protect bird species," said Audubon's Senior Vice President
                 for Science, Frank Gill.  "From September 1st through November 15th, National Audubon
                 Society urges  citizens  from New York to Washington, D.C. to report bird sightings to
                 BirdCast and to take action to aid birds."
                 As birds migrate, major factors contributing to their demise include pesticide use; loss of
                 feeding and watering opportunities; impact with radio, television, and cellular towers, and
                 brightly lit office buildings which disorient birds, causing them  to crash. Scientists recog-
                 nize that migrating birds are in decline—down by nearly 50% since the 1960s.
                 BirdCast, enabling scientists  to predict  bird migration through a specific region, offers
                 practical uses for homeowners and public officials.  Using BirdCast, homeowners will be
                 advised as to when to avoid spraying pesticides in their gardens, provide seed and water,
                 and when to keep  their cats indoors, in order to keep bird populations alive and well.
                 Building owners can use BirdCast to determine when to turn off disorienting lights that
                 often cause birds to crash into windows and die.
                 Public Health officials are also urged to make use of BirdCast. "This fall, BirdCast has an
                 unintended and immediate use for county  health officers," continued Audubon's  Gill.
                 "BirdCast will  provide guidelines on when to suspend spray operations, helping officials
                 avoid unnecessary bird deaths and violations of federal Migratory Bird Laws."

                 BirdCast,  a project of National Audubon  Society,  Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and
                 Clemson University Radar Ornithology Lab, made its debut this past spring  and was a
                 resounding success. Funded by the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research
                 and Development and the Office of Pesticide Programs, the project was granted the "Dr.
                 Copernicus Award" by the Copernicus Education Gateway, a Web site that features the
                 best educational sites for students and teachers.  Using radar pictures, audio samples and
                 most importantly, personal  observations (or "groundtruthing,") scientists were able to
                 make predictions and draw conclusions about songbird migratory behavior.
                 Participants from the mid-Atlantic region watched the skies, reported their findings to the
                 BirdCast site and were then advised when to keep their cats indoors, to refrain from pesti-
                 cide use, and to provide food  and water in order to protect migrating birds in their region.
                 Of particular interest to the thousands who visited BirdCast were the "10 Commandments
                 to a Healthy Yard" and "The Audubon Guide to Home Pesticides," still available at the site
                 http-.l/magazine.audubon. orglbackyardlbackyard0005. html.
46
APPENDIX  A

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"By encouraging the public to report bird sightings in their region, BirdCast has and will
continue to enable scientists to gather valuable information on migratory movements," said
Gill.  "The project will not only increase scientific knowledge but also encourages people
to make informed decisions about when to apply pesticides, let their cats out or undertake
other activities that might cause birds harm."
This fall, with additional support from the EPA's Office of Pesticide  Programs, BirdCast
will expand into the states of New York and New Jersey. Scientists will generate morning
and evening pictures of warbler, waterfowl, and hawk migration through the region using
NEXRAD  (Next Generation Radar).   These snapshots of bird migration and weather
events will  be accompanied by interpretation and predictions from the Clemson Lab so
that the general public and city officials can both observe and  assist migratory birds.

"BirdCast has already inspired the general public to use this  new technology to observe
birds  and ultimately become  partners in conservation," said Sally Conyne,  Director of
Citizen Science for Audubon.  "This fall we are eager to track  bird movement once again.
Web users will be able to obtain  daily forecasts of bird movements, learn about the best
bird-viewing  spots and find out how human activity impacts birds. In addition, the site
now includes general information about migration, some late-breaking pesticide news, and
a variety of tips for the fall gardener."
Aside from adding color and music  to our lives, birds serve as important environmental
indicators, helping scientists assess the health of an ecosystem. Evidence of a declining bird
species in a particular region may indicate another problem such as the loss of food or water
sources, the destruction of specific habitats, or contamination  by a toxic element. Despite
the significant role birds play in local ecosystems, every year the numbers of migratory birds
that return to the Mid-Atlantic region, and other parts of the country, decreases. These
decreases may indicate problems with broad environmental implications, problems that
can impact us in many ways.
Founded in  1905 and with over a  550,000 members and supporters in 530  chapters
throughout the Americas,  the National Audubon Society conserves and restores natural
ecosystems, focusing on birds, other  wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of human-
ity and the earth's biological diversity.
MEDIA CONTACT:
John Bianchi
Kara Grobert
jbianchi@audubon.org
kgrobert@audubon.org
212/979-3026
212/979-3027
BIRDCAST  EDUCATION  AND  DUTREACH  MATERIALS

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     NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY URGES NY. NT & CT HEALTH
        OFFICIALS NOT TO SPRAY PESTICIDES THIS WEEKEND
  Largest Wave of Bird Migration This Fall Predicted to Pass Through Tri-State Area
New York, NY September 15, 2000- Using the latest technology in bird tracking techniques
and the efforts of citizen scientists through BirdCast.org, National Audubon Society pre-
dicts the largest wave of migration will  occur  this weekend- and strongly urges county
officials to suspend pesticide spraying operations in the tri-state area.
"This weekend will be one of the best opportunities for people to see a wide variety of
species of migrating songbirds and hawks, and to contribute their sightings to BirdCast,"
said Sally Conyne, Director of Citizen Science for Audubon. "On the other hand, this week-
end will be one of the worst times for pesticide sprayings to occur, due to the unknown
effects of the use of Scourge and Anvil on birds and the consequent reduction of their food
source. By not spraying pesticides in the tri-state area this weekend, county and city officials
will avoid unnecessary bird deaths and violations of federal Migratory Bird Laws."
Migratory birds usually face a number of life threatening challenges in their journey south.
This weekend, in addition to predators, difficult weather, and long distances, birds must
contend with man  made threats, especially  potential poisoning from  the  pesticides
employed to combat the West Nile Virus.  With the cooperation of health officials, help of
citizen scientists and state-of-the-art BirdCast technology, birds migrating through the Mid-
Atlantic may get a break.
"In combination with the efforts of the public, BirdCast www.BirdCast.org will become one
of the most effective ways to track bird movement, and protect bird species,"  said Audubon's
Senior Vice President for Science, Frank  Gill.  "From September 1st through November
15th, National Audubon Society urges citizens from New York to Washington, D.C. to
report bird sightings to BirdCast and to take action to aid birds."
As birds migrate, major factors contributing to  their demise include pesticide use; loss of
feeding  and watering opportunities; impact with radio, television, and cellular towers, and
brightly lit office buildings which disorient birds, causing them to crash.  Scientists recog-
nize that migrating birds are in  decline—down by nearly 50% since the 1960's.

BirdCast, enabling scientists to predict bird migration through a specific region, offers prac-
tical  information for homeowners and public officials.  Using BirdCast, homeowners will
learn when to avoid spraying pesticides in their gardens, when  to provide seed and water,
and when to keep their cats indoors,  in  order to keep bird populations  alive and well.
Building owners can use BirdCast to  determine when to turn  off disorienting lights that
often cause birds to crash into windows and die.

BirdCast, a project of National Audubon Society, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Clemson
University Radar Ornithology Lab, and Academy of Natural Sciences made its  debut this
past  spring and was  a resounding success.  Supported by the Environmental Protection
Office of Pesticide Programs and Mid-Atlantic Office (Region III), the project was granted
the "Dr. Copernicus  Award" by the Copernicus Education Gateway, an  educational Web
site for students and  teachers.  Using radar pictures,  audio samples and personal observa-
tions (or "ground truthing,")  scientists were able to make predictions and draw conclusions
about songbird migratory behavior.
                                                                 APPENDIX  A

-------
Participants from the mid-Atlantic region watched the skies, reported their findings to the
BirdCast site and were then advised when to keep their cats indoors, to refrain from pesti-
cide use, and to provide food and water in order to protect migrating birds in their region.
Of particular interest to the thousands who visited BirdCast were the "10 Commandments
to a Healthy Yard" and "The Audubon Guide to Home Pesticides," available at the site
http:llwww. birdsource. org/birdcast/pestsum. html.
"By encouraging the public to report bird sightings  in their region, BirdCast has and will
continue to enable scientists to gather valuable information on migratory movements," said
Gill. "The project will not only increase scientific knowledge but also encourages people to
make informed decisions about when  to apply pesticides, let their cats out or undertake
other activities that might cause birds harm."

This fall, with additional support from the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs, BirdCast
will expand into the states of NY, NJ and CT  Scientists will generate morning and evening
pictures of warbler, waterfowl, and hawk migration through the region using NEXRAD
(Next Generation Radar). These snapshots will be accompanied by interpretation and pre-
dictions from the Clemson Lab so that the general public and city officials can both observe
and assist migratory birds.

"BirdCast has  already inspired the  general public to use the  new technology to  observe
birds and ultimately become partners in conservation," said Audubon's Conyne. "This fall
we are eager to track bird movement once again. Web users will obtain daily forecasts of
bird movements, learn about the best bird-viewing spots and find out how human activity
impacts birds. The site  now includes general information about migration, some  late-
breaking pesticide news, and a variety of tips  for  the fall gardener."
Aside from adding color  and music to our lives, birds serve as important environmental
indicators, helping scientists assess the health of an ecosystem. Evidence of a declining bird
species in a particular region may indicate another problem such as the loss of food or water
sources, the destruction of specific habitats, or contamination by a toxic element.  Despite
the significant role birds play in local ecosystems, every year the numbers of migratory birds
that return to the Mid-Atlantic region, and other parts of the country, decreases. These
decreases may indicate problems with broad environmental implications, problems that
can impact us in many ways.
Founded in 1905  and with over a 550,000 members and supporters in  530 chapters
throughout the Americas, the National Audubon Society conserves and  restores natural
ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife,  and their habitats for the benefit of human-
ity and the earth's biological diversity.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Kara Grobert  kgrobert@audubon.org
212 979-3027
BIRDCAST  EDUCATION  AND  DUTREACH  MATERIALS
                                                     49

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                                              BirdCast & NEXRAD

                 In the early days of World War II, British radar operators noticed mysterious, ethereal shad-
                 ows drifting across  their screens. Those apparitions, so wonderfully dubbed angels by
                 pioneering radar technicians, heralded the beginnings of radar ornithology. Radar's first major
                 contribution to ornithology took  form  only  a  few years  later when  in 1958 Sidney
                 Gauthreaux, then  a  high school student in New Orleans, postulated that if radar can see
                 planes and weather, why not birds? Only a few years later, as a Louisiana State graduate stu-
                 dent, he found his  proof. His radar  images definitively proved the existence of massive
                 trans-Gulf migrations. Prior to these  observations, there was a continuing belief that the
                 majority of migrants held to a more land  bound, clockwise pattern; arriving in North
                 America via Mexico.

                 Through the 60s,  70s, and 80s, however, radar's promise failed to fully evolve. There were
                 a few notable discoveries, such as in 1989 when Gauthreaux, working from archival images,
                 awakened the ornithological world to the precipitous decline in migrating flocks—down by
                 nearly half when compared to the 1960s. The existing radar of the day, however, was prov-
                 ing largely inadequate. It lacked not only the necessary resolution, but it also failed to provide
                 a three dimensional view.

                 In the early 1990s, however, change was coming. The new, highly efficient NEXRAD
                 Doppler radar (Next Generation Radar)  began to be placed in service. The Air Force started
                 investigating NEXRAD's  utility in their Bird  Aircraft  Strike Hazard Program (BASH).
                 During this period, portable NEXRAD units were teamed with vertically  mounted  thermal
                 imaging units so that the images captured by the radar could be visually verified. Elsewhere,
                 graduate students under Sid Gauthreaux were making their own exciting  discoveries. Their
                 breath-taking images of giant expanding aerial doughnuts were  found to be thousands of
                 Purple Martin radiating from critical roosting sites each morning.

                 Radar ornithology work is now taking place  in many parts of the country and it is  soon to
                 come to the Mid-Atlantic. With the support of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office
                 of Research and Development and the Office of Pesticide Programs, a coalition consisting of
                 National Audubon, Cornell's Laboratory of Ornithology, and Clemson's Radar Ornithology
                 Laboratory, "BirdCast" will be coming soon to a computer near you on September 1, 2000.
                 To access BirdCast you will go to the existing Audubon/Cornell Web  site—BirdSource
                 http://www.BirdSource.org.  Throughout periods of peak migration, BirdCast will provide a
                 morning and evening, unfiltered snapshot of the eastern region of the US from New York
                 through Virginia. The birds and weather shown in theseimages will be accompanied by inter-
                 pretation and a migration prediction provided by the Clemson Lab.

                 Is this work being done just as a special favor for birders? Well, not exactly. You can think
                 of BirdCast as an early alert and an  environmental billboard on the Internet. Linked to
                 BirdCast will be messages such as admonitions against the use of certain pesticides as well
                 as a number of other migrant-friendly  changes that people can make in their backyards.
                 We'll advise the residents of the region about the  pests that actually  pose local threats and
                 the safest management strategies. Included at the site are two charts of  special interest—
                 "10 Commandments for a Healthy Yard" and "The Audubon Guide to Home Pesticides."
                 With the completion of data collection this migration season,  we hope to use the inter-
                 preted and ground-truthed images in  pinpointing critical habitat in need of protection.
5D
APPENDIX A

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While all of this seems reasonably simple and employs proven technology, its not simple at
all. In fact, it's really research in the development stage. What has been sorely lacking in the           ^^
past  is you. Most earlier radar work has been lacking a critical component—ground-
truthing. Dozens, hundreds, and, indeed, thousands of sets  of eyes are needed to verify
what the radar images are capturing and to that end, BirdCast will have an interactive com-
ponent and will allow you to log on and enter your daily sightings. These will feed directly
into our database and be available to everyone in real-time.
So, BirdCast needs you. Dust off those bins and get ready to head to your favorite haunts.
While we encourage all of you to post each and every sighting, of greatest value  will be
sightings coming from those who can afford the time to make regular observations. Those
of you who would like to participate on a daily or regular basis or if you would like addi-
tional information please contact Sally Conyne sconyne@audubon.org. These data you
collect will greatly enhance our overall  understanding of migration patterns and move-             V^^
ments. And this project will educate a multitude of people about how their backyards can
be made friendlier and healthier for our angels. So, please, help us help the birds.
BIRDCAST EDUCATION  AND DUTREACH  MATERIALS                          51

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