Observing Bird Populations using a Distance Based Dataset

A dataset observing the bird population in the Danby Woods and Grassland at York University in Toronto Ontario. The project was completed by myself, Adamo, Katherine, Ava, and Ashley- a group of ecology students. The project ran from approximately 3:50 to 4:25 p.m. on September 29th. The experiment took place under dark cloudy skies and in roughly 18 ⁰C weather. The conditions of weather were constant precipitation and a continuous wind. The experiment consisted of observing the number of birds, and the number of different Recognizable Taxonomic Units (RTU) in a given area. The area was determined using a belt transect, which was set up by placing a 9 metre transect along the ground and watching for any birds within an 8 metre radius of that transect. When a bird was spotted, one member of the group estimated the distance with respect to the horizontal axis of the ground. The group had decided to not take height of the bird from the ground into account. The transect was observed for 3 minutes to ensure that the mobility of birds was taken into account in the estimation of the population. For each bird sighting, a rating from the Beaufort scale of wind speed was decided as well. The experiment was replicated 5 times in the grassland, and another 5 times in the woods with a transect in a different spot each time. Most likely due to the rain, there was a minimal bird count with zero sightings in the woods and only a total of 5 birds spotted in the grasslands. There also was not an extensive number of RTU’s. Instead only sparrows, robins, and mourning doves were seen from the transects.