Avian point-counts from Rhode Island and Connecticut used to test species distribution models

This test dataset includes presence/absence data for 102 bird species based on point-counts conducted throughout Connecticut and Rhode Island from three different studies. One study covered interior forests habitats primarily in eastern Connecticut, where at each of 32 forested sites, seven point-count stations were spaced a minimum of 160 m apart. A total of 358 surveys were conducted in 2018 at 220 locations, with 87 locations surveyed once, 128 surveyed twice, and five surveyed three times. In another study, point-count stations were randomly stratified by habitat throughout Connecticut with a maximum of 10 point-counts spaced at least 500 m apart within 200 randomly-selected 5 x 5 km grid cells. A total of 932 surveys were conducted in 2018 at 690 locations with 450 locations surveyed once, 238 surveyed twice, and two surveyed three times. In the remaining study, point-counts were conducted throughout Rhode Island at 3,664 randomly selected locations spaced a minimum of 250 m apart. Each location was surveyed once in 2015. Point-counts were conducted between May 19th – July 5th to capture the peak breeding period for most species in the dataset. This dataset is presented with associated observation and environmental covariates. See the manuscript and Table S2 for additional details.