Can at-risk species serve as effective conservation surrogates? Case study in northeastern US shrublands

Bird point counts were conducted in 2015 and 2016 via the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service landbird monitoring standard operating procedures. During each point count, the observer recorded all birds detected at distance bins of 0-25 m, 26-50 m, 51-100 m, and >100 m. We retained data from the 0-25 m and 26-50 m distance bins for analyses and excluded flyover detections. The raw data are provided by site, including detection covariates (temperature, time of survey, cloud cover, wind speed, background noise level, survey day, i.e., days since the start of the survey/breeding season). Vegetation data were collected at point count locations in 2017, at 20 sampling points placed in 4 cardinal directions within 50 m of each survey point. Measured habitat variables were averaged over the 20 sampling points and these data are provided in this dataset. For patch-level covariates (patch, woody vegetation species richness, and proportion of woody invasive vegetation), averages are given across the patch. Further details are provided in the metadata tab of the vegetation spreadsheet data.