NPS
If birds no longer filled a June morning with song, would the national park experience be diminished? Would we view northern parks differently if there were more Field Sparrows and grackles than White-throated Sparrows and Gray Jays? Monitoring landbirds (also known as songbirds) in the national parks provides a window into the larger workings of the land. It may be that our monitoring will only highlight the changes in park bird populations, but the popularity of birds to the visiting public, and the NPS mission to protect wildlife in the parks, make it necessary for us to know all we can about what lives within our boundaries.
Long-term Monitoring
The goal of this monitoring program is to improve the consistency, comparability, quality, and access to landbird monitoring data being collected each year by network parks. To accomplish this, we will:
- Use a standardized sampling method that is flexible enough to fit the unique sampling challenges at each park, but still yields data that are comparable across parks and at regional and national levels.
- Develop and integrate quality control measures such as training and certification for observers.
- Provide a network-wide database for storage and retrieval of data.
- Disseminate information to partners and other interested parties.
Last updated: September 21, 2023