Point-count bird censusing: bird abundance and diversity in CAP LTER Phoenix Area Social Survey neighborhoods throughout the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, 2006-2016

The Phoenix Area Social Survey (PASS) parallels the Ecological Survey of Central
Arizona (formerly, Survey 200) as a long-term monitoring program of the CAP LTER. Every five
years, the PASS research team surveys households in selected neighborhoods in the metropolitan
Phoenix area to better understand perceptions, values, and behaviors of several key
environmental issues, including water conservation, urban growth, air pollution, land
conservation, biodiversity and urban climate change, as well as perceptions about their
neighborhoods. The survey was piloted in 2001-2002 in eight neighborhoods in Phoenix with 302
respondents, and grew to over 40 neighborhoods and 800 households in 2005. Bird survey
locations were established in each of the PASS neighborhoods, colocated as much as possible
with the corresponding ESCA survey location in the neighborhood. Bird surveys were conducted
biannualy (spring, winter) approximately the year of and the year after each PASS. In a given
season, each bird survey location is visited independently by three birders who count all
birds seen or heard within a 15-minute window.