• Address:
  705 Spear Street
  South Burlington, Vermont 05403
  United States of America
  
  Phone: (802) 391-4135
  Email: femc@uvm.edu
  Website: www.uvm.edu/femc

Assessment of bird habitat parameters (e.g. vertical and horizontal structure, CWD functionality, tree spp.) at established Forest Health Monitoring plots using an adapted version of the Foresters for the Birds methodology.

• Label: Year

• Description: Year of data collection.

• Storage Type: date

• Measurment Type: datetime
• String Format: YYYY

• Label: Plot

• Description: FHM plot at which data was collected.

• Storage Type: text

• Measurment Type: nominal

• Label: Subplot ID

• Description: Subplot at which data was collected.

• Storage Type: int

• Measurment Type: nominal

• Label: Species

• Description: Four letter bird code signifying bird species recorded in each subplot.

• Storage Type: text

• Measurment Type: nominal

• Sites
  • Started: 2016-06-16
    Ended: 2016-08-17
    
  • Method Description: Sites were chosen based on established VMC Forest Health Monitoring plots.

• Bird Counts
  • Started: 2016-06-16
    Ended: 2016-08-17
    
  • Method Description: Bird species seen and heard were recorded during the time it took to complete an FHM subplot (4 subplots total), and then combined to create a plot-level list of species observed.
  • Instrumentation: Binoculars
  • Quality Control Measures: All crew members had experience in birding/ornithology. Binoculars were used to aid bird ID. Start and end times were recorded.

• General Subplot Info
  • Started: 2016-06-16
    Ended: 2016-08-17
    
  • Method Description: After completing an FHM subplot, general subplot metrics were recorded on the bird habitat data sheet (i.e. start and end times, FHM plot and subplot ID, any pertinent notes about weather and miscellaneous habitat features).

• Overstory
  • Started: 2016-06-16
    Ended: 2016-08-17
    
  • Method Description: Canopy height, overstory percent cover, and overstory distribution were categorized into classes (overstory being >30'). See subplot metrics dataset attributes for details regarding the classes.

• Midstory and Understory
  • Started: 2016-06-16
    Ended: 2016-08-17
    
  • Method Description: Midstory and understory percent cover and distribution were estimated over the area of each FHM subplot. Species present in each structure class were also recorded and rated based on relative abundance. See subplot metrics and tree species dataset attributes for details.

• Forage Quality
  • Started: 2016-06-16
    Ended: 2016-08-17
    
  • Method Description: Presence of soft mast species (e.g. raspberry, blackberry, elderberry, etc.) in each FHM subplot was recorded. Leaf litter was classified as either 'adequate' or 'inadequate' based on functionality for forage (see subplot metrics dataset attributes for details). Presence of invasive species and their percent cover over the the subplot if present was also recorded.

• CWD and FWD
  • Started: 2016-06-16
    Ended: 2016-08-17
    
  • Method Description: Coarse Woody Debris (>4 in.) and Fine Woody Debris (<4 in.) were classified based on habitat functionality over the area of an FHM subplot (see subplot metrics dataset attributes for details). Presence of CWD and FWD are important to note in a plot because they provide perching sites, habitat for invertebrates that are a significant part of the breeding season diet of many birds, nesting substrate, and cover.

• Compass and GPS
• Sampling Description: A compass and GPS were used to locate each FHM plot.

• Started: 2016-06-16
  Ended: 2016-08-17
• Sampling Description: Binoculars (Eagle Optics 8x42) were used to locate and identify bird species in each plot.