In spring 2020,\u00a0the UW Quantitative Ecology lab launched a community science project to learn more about how changes in human behavior\u00a0during COVID-19 lockdowns\u00a0affected birds in\u00a0suburban and urban areas in the Pacific Northwest. Volunteers\u00a0signed up to conduct weekly surveys of birds in their neighborhood from April 1\u00a0through\u00a0June 30. We are thrilled that just shy of 900 people\u00a0signed up to participate in the 2020 data collection blitz, and we hope many of our volunteers will participate in our program again in 2021 and 2022. By collecting additional data on birds as lockdowns ease and human activity ramps back up to pre-pandemic levels, we will be able to learn more about how dynamic components of urban habitat, such traffic volume and air pollution, influence the presence, availability, and perceptibility of birds.
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If you are one of our volunteers, thank you for your continued dedication to this project.\u00a0We are so grateful for the support and enthusiasm\u00a0of our volunteers!\u00a0\u00a0We couldn\u2019t do this without you. You can read our 2020 end-of-year\u00a0report\u00a0here<\/a>. And you can read our first publication at Scientific Reports from the data collected in 2020 here<\/a>. Scroll down to learn more about our survey protocol, and click here<\/a> to access the 2020 FAQ page. Resources for beginning birders are available here<\/a>. If you have any further questions, please contact our project coordinator (Olivia Sanderfoot) at oliviavs at uw.edu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Survey Protocol:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n WHERE: You get to pick your site! We suggest choosing your backyard or a local green space that you can easily walk to. Please do not\nreport species that you are not confident you observed.<\/strong> If you are unsure of a species identification,\nplease use broader groups such as \u201csparrow sp.\u201d or \u201chummingbird sp.\u201d when\npossible. If you can\u2019t narrow down the bird to a group, please use \u201cbird sp.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are collecting data via eBird, a community science app. You can submit observations using a mobile app or on the web, though we recommend the mobile app:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later this spring, we\u2019ll be able to download all the checklists submitted by birders in the PNW and find the surveys for this project by searching for \u201csocial distancing survey\u201d in the comment field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please do not report species that you are not confident you observed.<\/strong> If you are unsure of a species identification, please use broader groups such as \u201csparrow sp.\u201d or \u201chummingbird sp.\u201d when possible. If you can\u2019t narrow down the bird to a group, please use \u201cbird sp.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more information about getting started with eBird, check out this how-to guide<\/a> from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. For additional support, please consult the eBird Help Center<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In spring 2020,\u00a0the UW Quantitative Ecology lab launched a community science project to learn more about how changes in human behavior\u00a0during COVID-19 lockdowns\u00a0affected birds in\u00a0suburban and urban areas in the Pacific Northwest. Volunteers\u00a0signed up to conduct weekly surveys of birds in their neighborhood from April 1\u00a0through\u00a0June 30. We are thrilled that just shy of 900 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/sefsqel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/383"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/sefsqel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/sefsqel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/sefsqel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/sefsqel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/sefsqel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":591,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/sefsqel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/383\/revisions\/591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/sefsqel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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WHEN: At least once a week (though more often if you\u2019d like), head to that site and conduct a 10-minute stationary point count. Record all the birds you see or hear<\/strong> during those ten minutes.
PLATFORM: We are collecting data via eBird, a community science app. You can submit checklists on eBird using a web browser or the mobile app. Before you submit your checklist, add the phrase \u201csocial distancing survey\u201d to the COMMENT field. Note that if you forget to do this, you can always go back and edit your checklists!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nSubmitting Checklists:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n