North Cascades in Your Backyard?

Objectives: Students will graph the return and exodus of migrating birds in their backyard and note birds which may have visited North Cascades National Park.
Related Web-Activity: North Cascades Nomads
Subjects: Biology
ELRS: Mathematics 1.4, 4.3; Geography 1.1; Science 1.2, 1.3
Size: Whole class to individual
Setting: Outside
Duration: 10 minutes once a week
Materials: timer, writing tablet, bird book, binoculars, and listening skills

Background

Counting birds in large wilderness areas where 200-foot trees limit eyesight to only a few hundred feet and leafy understory shrubs get in the way of binoculars is a difficult task. Since it is impossible for researchers to visit every spot on the map and count every bird in North Cascades National Park, researchers visit only a small sample of locations in a variety of habitats. Bird researchers' ears are so well-tuned that they can identify birds while also counting the number of birds in a given radius. With over 100 species of landbirds frequenting the park, that's quite an impressive skill.

After all data is collected, scientists estimate the count for the entire park area by extrapolating the data across the remaining area of the park. For instance, if you were to determine the number of Oregon juncos in a 10-acre plot of forest near your home, you could use this highly simplified method:

Spend enough time to count all the juncos you hear or see from one point. For example, from that one location you can hear and see birds around you for one acre. Then all you would need to do is multiply your junco count times ten to estimate the junco population for the entire 10-acre plot.

Another method researchers sometimes use to count birds is to count for bird diversity. By counting diversity, they don't need to be able to identify each bird, but they must be able to distinguish one species from one another.

Procedure

In this activity you will be plotting two sets of data on one graph: bird diversity and bird count. This will be done for an entire school year.

1. Go outside once a week (or once a month), as early in the morning as possible, to the same location with your writing tablet. Bring a friend or family member who will have binoculars and a bird book. Choose your location well for you will return to the same spot each week, and it needs to be quiet enough to hear the birds. Teachers, you may wish to rotate your students through these roles.
2. For ten minutes, try to determine how many different species you hear from your location. This number will be your bird diversity for the week.
3. During that same ten minutes, count the total number of birds of all species you hear or see from your location. This number will be your bird count for the week.
4. While you are counting birds, have your friend try to identify at least one of the species and look it up in the bird book. Record the identity of this bird.
5. Go back to the classroom and plot your numbers on a line graph. Write the name of the bird you identified below the week. Color code your lines by using one color for bird diversity and another for bird count.

Analysis

At various intervals throughout the year take a look at your chart. What is happening? Why is bird diversity changing? Why are bird counts changing?

Use the Landbird Survey 2001 List from North Cascades National Park to determine if any of the species you identified might be birds that have come from or are migrate to North Cascades. If you live in the same flyway as North Cascades National Park, you may be seeing a bit of North Cascades.