1. Breeding Bird Protocol Overview Monitors conducting a count at Huguenot Memorial Park. Photo by Chris Burney. Monitoring shorebirds and seabirds

2. Outline What Am I Monitoring? – Focal species What is the Breeding Bird Protocol – Why is the protocol important? – Monitoring Rooftops – Establishing Routes – Monitoring colonies and nest sites along routes

3. What Am I Monitoring? Solitary Nesting Shorebirds Colonial Nesting Seabirds

4. Solitary-Nesting Shorebirds Wilson’s Plover American Oystercatcher Eastern Willet Photo by Mia McPhersonPhoto by Jack Rogers

5. Solitary Nesting Shorebirds Nest is a “scrape” in the sand Nests & chicks cryptic – challenge to find in the field Birds exhibit specific behaviors, like broken wing displays that help observers find nests Nest on beaches, spoil islands, oyster bars, and gravel rooftops Photo by Alex Kropp

6. Colonial-Nesting Seabirds Photo by Jack Rogers Least TernBlack Skimmer Photo by Jack Rogers Photo by Alex Kropp Least Tern incubating eggs inside nest “scrape”

7. Colonial Nesting Seabirds Nest in colonies together up to 100s of nests. Few ground colonies reported south of St. Johns County. Mostly nest on rooftops.

8. Colonial Nesting Seabirds

9. The Breeding Bird Protocol

10. Why a Monitoring Protocol? Essential for collecting meaningful, useful data. Birds must be counted in the same way, and data collected in the same format to create meaningful statewide summaries.

11. Conduct a Count during each “Count Window” March 18-24 April 15-21 May 13-19 June 10-16 July 8-14 August 5-11 * Also, Monitor Colonies Weekly, April-June

12. Rooftop Protocol Do not go on the roof Conduct counts from the ground Fill out a data sheet even if you don’t see birds.

13. Data Sheet for Rooftops (top) Motel 6 Cocoa Beach Naomi AvissarHeather Hitt 5251311 00 Least Tern120P

14. Data Sheet for Rooftops (bottom) Motel 6 Joe Schmo Bldg. Manager 555-5555 blsk@ m6.com 123 Plover Street 55555 Cocoa Beach 81.2222228.55555 Chicks falling down drain pipes – put 6 chicks back on roof.

15. Data Sheet for Rooftops (Optional) 525 13 Motel 6 Cocoa Beach 6 chicks fell off roof and were returned to roof via chick-a-boom Rooftop needs modification

16. Monitoring Shorebird Nests and Seabird Colonies Along Routes

17. What is a Route? A path with a start and end point. Observer monitors all nests and colonies along the route. Routes can be on land or water Local Partnerships determine where to establish routes.

18. Route Form Sebastian Inlet 1 Jason DePueIma Birder 5 25 138 00 Sebastian Inlet Colony 1SISP WIPL 1 SISP WIPL 3 SISP WIPL 4 11 00 SISP AMOY 1

19. Solitary Nests Along Routes Photo by Kevin Edwards

20. Solitary Nest Form SISP WIPL 1 Alex Kropp Janell Brush 5 25 13 9 00 Wilson’s Plover X 2 81.2222228.55555

21. Colonies Along Routes Photo by Maxis Gamez

22. Colonies Along Routes Direct Count: – Count each nest/chick/flight capable juvenile in the colony – Conduct at least 2 counts report the average count – One or multiple observers Estimate Count: – Conduct a Direct Count on a portion of the colony and extrapolate

23. Colony Form SISP Colony 1 Alex Kropp Janell Brush 5 25 13 1 00 Least Tern 143 34 16 0 NC 81.22222 28.55555

24. More Information at: www.flshorebirddatabase.org

25. The Protocol in Detail

26. Summary Minimum expectations: – Familiarize yourself with the protocol (webinars) – Use the data sheets! – Survey nest sites and routes once a month during the 6 count windows (March – August) – Enter data into the website (training videos) Even Better: – Monitor colonies weekly, April-June

27. Questions? Black skimmer with chicks. Photo by Maxis Gamez

28. Colonial Nesting Seabirds