WildResearch Nightjar Survey News

1. Introducing the 2016 Nightjar Technician - Alessandra Hood

We are thrilled to announce that we have hired Alessandra Hood as our 2016 Technician! Alessandra will be helping to run the WildResearch Nightjar Survey until late August this year thanks to financial support from the federal Canada Summer Jobs program. Below is a short hello from Alessandra.

"Hi everyone, I am Alessandra Hood, a new summer technician for WildResearch!  I am currently an undergrad at the University of Alberta specializing in Animal Biology. During the last semester of school I volunteered for Elly Knight, confirming nighthawk detection from acoustic data, and discovered a new found interest in nightjars! I am very excited to be a part of this community and I look forward to sharing and expanding my knowledge on Nighthawks/Nightjars with everyone! Throughout the summer I will be here to help answer any questions you may have, so please don’t hesitate to send us an email if you are unsure of something! I will also be helping host the Edmonton, Calgary, Kelowna, and Oliver orientations; hopefully I will get to meet some of you there!"

~Alessandra Hood, WildResearch Nightjar Survey Technician

Alessandra doing nightjar field research (today!) in the Okanagan, BC.

2. New Online Orientation Video

We kicked off the survey season with eight orientation sessions in major cities across the country. Thanks to everyone who came out! For those of you who missed your regional nightjar orientation, Alessandra has put together a short orientation video for our website! Check it out here to learn more about the WildResearch Nightjar Survey, the Nightjar Atlas, and the new national protocol.

3. New Nightjar Coordinator - Alex Dalton

WildResearch Member & Nightjar Volunteer Alex Dalton is assisting Virginia Noble in coordinating the WildResearch Nightjar Surveys in New Brunswick. Alex has been a WildResearch member since early 2014, and regularly participated in WildResearch's Iona Island Bird Observatory and BC Nightjar Survey programs prior to moving to New Brunswick. Alex is an M.Sc. graduate from the Department of Zoology at the University of British Columbia having studied the daily energy expenditure of Northern Fur Seals. Alex now works as a Biologist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans at the Saint Andrews Biological Station studying Bluefin Tuna. Alex is eagerly looking forward to this year's nightjar survey and hopes to be able to locate a Eastern Whip-Poor-Will or Common Nighthawk nest.

Thanks Alex for volunteering to help with the WildResearch Nightjar Survey!

Alex and Virginia deploying acoustic recorders for nightjar research in the Okangan, BC.

4. 2016 Survey Info

If you’re signed up for a route and missed the recent survey prep email, here’s a quick recap of what you need to do to get ready for your 2016 nightjar survey!

1. Review the national survey protocol available here.
   • Join us at an orientation or watch the online orientation video (coming soon on June 15th) if you'd like further instruction!
   • Once you've read the protocol, check out the one-page quick reference sheet in Appendix A!
2. Fill out your liability form online.
   • If you aren’t already a member, I would urge you to consider doing so. Your membership helps us cover the costs of running the nightjar survey program and ensures full liability coverage, plus you’ll get regular updates from us about WildResearch, nightjars, and ongoing research and conservation updates. You can learn more about membership here.
   • If you’d prefer not to become a member, you can fill out a waiver at BetterImpact. To fill this form out, you’ll need to pick your survey dates in advance (and recon date), including some back-ups! (Please keep in mind that WildResearch incurs a financial cost for each date). You’ll also need to create an account using your email address, and then just fill out the Day Membership form and you’re all set!
3. Retrieve your route map and station locations.
   • You can find your route map and station locations in the nightjar atlas at www.nightjar.ca. Simply log in to your account (click the ‘LOG IN’ tab at the top of the page, just under the WildResearch logo) and click on ‘Manage My Routes’. From there, you can download a map of the route. At the far right of each route’s line, links to four different types of maps can be found, including:
     1. Map – this is a pdf of your route. It’s perfect for printing off!
     2. KML – this is a file for Google Earth. This is great for exploring your route virtually!
     3. CSV – this is a spreadsheet with details of your route. If you want to see the latitude and longitude of each point, check this file out!
     4. GPX – this is a file for uploading the route info right into a GPS. If you want to enter coordinates into your GPS, use this file!
   • Note that the contents of 'Manage My Routes' requires a couple minor edits on the back-end so that the map and GPX options have station numbers. Check back in before you head out to survey for improved materials!
   • Note that some routes have never been surveyed before and don't have stops established! There will be nothing in the CSV or GPX files if that is the case.
4. Go check out your route.
   • If your route has never been surveyed before, it will be up to you to establish the location of the stops! Follow the instructions in Section 4.2.1 in the national protocol to pick them out. Make sure you record and submit the locations of your stops following Section 5.4. Note that some routes in BC will also need a couple stops established to make 12 stops!
   • If your route already has stops established, checking out your route is not required, but can be a good idea if you're unfamiliar with the area and to make sure all your stops are safe!
5. Print off your datasheets and gather your equipment.
   • The datasheets are available at the back of the national protocol available here.
   • An equipment list is available on page 10 of the national protocol here.
   • It can also be handy to have a copy of the one-page quick reference sheet available in Appendix A of the national protocol here.

And then you're ready to survey your route anytime between June 15 and July 15! Don't forget that it's best to survey between June 15 and June 27 if you're in an area that could have Common Poorwills or Eastern Whip-poor-wills. If you're unsure whether your route is one of these areas, check the Nightjar Atlas - the cross hatched areas on the map are where Common Poorwills or Eastern Whip-poor-wills may occur.

Once you've surveyed your route, you can enter your data online with your Nightjar Atlas account, or follow the instructions in the national protocol for email or hard copy data submission.

Happy surveying!



5. Thanks to Our Supporters

We’d like to take a minute to acknowledge all the amazing organizations that help make the WildResearch Nightjar Survey possible! Funding for the 2016 WildResearch Nightjar Survey was provided by:

1. The Nature Trust of British Columbia has awarded WildResearch with the 2016 Brink/McLean Grassland Conservation Fund to study Roadside Monitoring of Nightjar Populations in BC's Grasslands. The first phase of the project includes citizen science surveys of BC's grasslands along existing survey routes and the second will include collection of autonomous recording unit (ARU) data along roadsides and away from roadsides to understand whether roadside surveys bias nightjar detections. Studying potential roadside bias will allow for calculation of correction estimates for population density and trend analyses. Data will be analyzed and reported upon by undergraduate students at the University of Alberta, providing learning opportunities for young ecologists.
2. TD Friends of the Environment Foundation: has provided funding towards the purchase of autonomous recording units (ARUs) that will help us learn even more about nightjars, and towards wages for our 2016 Nightjar Technician, Alessandra Hood. Alessandra will deploy the ARUs during her upcoming field season, and the recordings collected will provide an opportunity for WildResearch members and Nightjar Survey volunteers to gain valuable skills in listening to and processing ARU data. Watch the Nightjar News in the fall for an opportunity to learn more about ARUs and help to process the BC Nightjar Survey ARU data. Alessandra will also use the recordings for her undergraduate thesis at the University of Alberta!
3. Canada Summer Jobs has provided funding to hire our 2016 Nightjar Technician. Canada Summer Jobs is a federal funding stream designed to help students and their communities by providing work experience and supporting organizations.

In addition, countless organizations provided in-kind support over the last year, from helping to advertise the program to hosting our data and providing venues for meeting. Thanks to following (in no particular order), and many more!

• Prairie Conservation Action Plan
• Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan
• Nature Saskatchewan
• Jared Clarke & The Prairie Naturalist
• Nature Alberta
• Edmonton Nature Club
• Boreal Centre for Bird Conservation
• Beaverhill Bird Observatory
• Breeding Bird Survey
• Bird Studies Canada
• HOOH Organic Hops
• Community Mapping Network
• Highland Stewardship Foundation
• Peace Parkland Naturalists
• BC Nature
• Environment Canada and Climate Change
• Metro Vancouver Regional Parks

We have no articles or new publications to share this month, so we thought we’d point you towards a couple nightjar research teams that are sharing updates on their research via social media. Stay up to date on current nightjar research via Twitter and Facebook!

1. Follow Common Nighthawk Research in Alberta

Program Manager Elly Knight is spending the summer north of Fort McMurray in Alberta studying the acoustic behaviour of Common Nighthawks and how it relates to habitat use. Elly and her team from the University of Alberta, including last year’s Nightjar Technician Azim Shariff, are using radiotelemetry and acoustic recorders to collect fine-scale information on how Common Nighthawks use the boreal forest. Follow their adventures on Twitter @ellycknight!

Common Nighthawk Field Technician Matt Timpf and his first tagged bird "Bowie"
 

2. Follow Red-necked Nightjar Research in Spain

A team of researchers at the Doñana Biological Station in Sevilla, Spain are using radio telemetry and GPS to study fine scale habitat use of the Red-necked Nightjar. Follow their field season adventures on Facebook here!