8:00-10:00 Workshop -- Introduction to Band Manager
Band Manager is a computer program developed by the Canadian Wildlife Service Bird Banding Office, Bird Studies Canada, and the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory for bander to use to edit and send their banding data to their banding office. This program will be required of all federally permitted Bird Banders within the next year. The Developers of Band Manager will present a short introduction to the program and its features, setting up the program for data entry and customizing the data entry screen and data fields. Attendance at the workshop will allow banders to more easily set up and use the program. Currently, about 40% of banders in the USA have not started using Band Manager in the USA. Banders who have attended workshops have found it very useful and feel it has helped bring them up to speed on the program much quicker than trying to learn the program themselves.

10:00-12:00 Workshop -- Advanced Band Manager
Band Manager is a computer program developed by the Canadian Wildlife Service Bird Banding Office, Bird Studies Canada, and the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory for bander to use to edit and send their banding data to their banding office. This program will be required of all federally permitted Bird Banders within the next year.

Developers of Band Manager will discuss importing data from other formats, customizing reports, and other more advanced features of Band Manager. Attendance at the workshop will give banders greater facility with the program. Band Manager is a powerful tool that can assist banders in organizing and working with their data.

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The biodiversity crisis has inspired an array of monitoring programs, tailored to behaviors obvious at different times of year or to groups of species that require special monitoring techniques. The newer programs augment such long-term efforts as the Breeding Bird Survey and Christmas Bird Count. Although many of these schemes (e.g., BBS, marsh-bird survey, night-bird survey, point counts) use or rely on identification of vocalizations, tape-recording of these vocalizations is seldom practiced.

Recording sounds detected in censusing and monitoring schemes presents at least the following advantages: (1) voucher specimens (acoustic) for hard-to-identify and/or rare species [a much more important target than in the past], (2) correction of false positives and false negatives, (3) potential for sampling over a larger time window, and therefore (4) potential for sampling at more nearly optimal times of day [compare the first ten and last ten stops on a BBS], (5) possible use of observers who are not expert in field identification of vocalizations to conduct counts, (6) the possibility of remote monitoring schemes.

Recent technological advances as well as increased interest in monitoring under-sampled taxa and increased need to identify critical bird areas have combined to make the use of recorded sounds both feasible and necessary. There is now a need for better communication among groups working in this area, as well as general education of potential users about the advantages of augmenting traditional methods with sound recording and post-processing.

This is a fast moving field. We would like to hold a workshop in 2001 to share ideas and techniques and to foster communication among those developing techniques and those who will begin to use them in the near future. Those developing techniques and equipment need to hear from users about what they really need to accomplish, while users need to be better informed about what is possible. (A common misconception, for example, is that a computer can be programmed to identify all the birds singing on a tape.) We hope that the workshop will result in a network of people working in this area, and that the group will begin planning a formal symposium with invited and contributed papers at the next AOU meeting.

Topics to be covered include limitations of conventional vocalization-based censusing; times, taxa, and faunas for which recorded or remote censuses would greatly increase current detection; recent developments in remote sound-monitoring technology; high-speed analysis of pre-recorded sound; potential networks of developers and users of new technology; handling and archiving census recordings.

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Goals:

1. Provide information on the current status of migration monitoring in the Americas.

2. Develop a strategy to enhance coordination and further developments of migration monitoring in the region.

The Strategic Framework for Monitoring North American Bird Populations, developed by the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) has highlighted the need for effective monitoring of all bird species, both to identify which species are most in need of conservation efforts, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of management actions taken to enhance bird conservation. For many passerines breeding in the continental United States and southern Canada, the most effective monitoring programs focus on breeding ground surveys, such as the Breeding Bird Survey. However, many species breed in northern Canada and Alaska where breeding ground surveys are impractical or impossible (over 60 species of landbirds have >50% of their breeding range north of effective Breeding Bird Survey coverage). For these species, alternative monitoring approaches are required.

One of the most promising developments is through migration monitoring: counting birds using standardized methods at a series of migrant concentration sites across the continent to develop indices of population numbers. This concept has been best developed in Canada, where a formal network has been established: the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network (CMMN). This network, which has 15 formal members plus additional affiliates spread right across Canada, is a partnership between Bird Studies Canada, the Canadian Wildlife Service, and the member stations, which are run independently. Data sharing agreements have been developed and Bird Studies Canada receives copies of the computerized data from each station, in a standardized format, and calculates annual indices and trend information for estimating population status, etc. with the results posted on the Internet and disseminated through publications such as newsletters, reports, etc.

Migration monitoring stations also exist in the continental United States including some that have been operating for many years using similar methods to those in Canada. Also, a small number of stations have been established in Latin America. However, there is currently little coordination among these stations and, in particular, there are no mechanisms for central coordination of data management or analysis.

We are thus proposing to convene a workshop to discuss options for development of migration monitoring, especially in the United States and Latin America, to ensure that data area available for analysis and assessment, to meet the goals of the monitoring strategy.

The proposed format would consist of a series of 2-3 short (10-15 minute) presentations on the current status of migration monitoring in Canada, the United States, and Latin America, followed by open but moderated discussions of a number of topics including: field sampling methods, data base standards and data management, data analysis methods, recent advances in automated monitoring (flight call recordings, radar), tracing migration routes using stable isotopes, and future coordination of monitoring efforts. The results of the workshop would be written up in a minutes form, for circulation to migration monitoring stations that could not attend.

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The National Science Foundation has several new initiatives that will be of interest to ornithologists. These include Advance, Biocomplexity in the Environment, Integrated Research Challenges in Environmental Biology, and Quantitative Environmental and Integrative Biology. I will present information on these initiatives to increase awareness of these programs and answer questions on the proposal and award process. This workshop will be especially appropriate for young investigators.

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