Abundance of Bird Sightings in Different Habitats

This field experiment was completed in and around Danby Woods at York University at around 4 PM on Monday September 28th. The conditions were very windy, cloudy, and quite chilly at approximately 15-17 degrees Celcius. The grassland was located on the southeast side of the woods, parallel to Keele street. The grassland was a field with shortly cut grass and a few sparsely distributed trees. This data set includes information about the abundance of birds within the Danby Woods and the surrounding grassland. The sightings were completed based on 5 transect trials in each habitat, where within each trial there were 3 observations of varying distances along the transect. The birds that were spotted were most likely Blue Jays (<em>Cyanositta cristata)</em> as they had a light blue feathers on the tail and back, and a white belly. The transects were placed consitently in a West to East direction, so the further from the edge of the transect, the more East was the location. Likewise, with each new trial, the transect was moved further North in a relatively consistent manner. The movement in the woodlot was not as even because of physical obstacles that prevented an straight line of the transect and a consistent movement. At each trial and point of observation, birds were counted if they either flew overhead or were perched on a tree that was within a 5-foot radius of the observational location. The parameters that were considered were Beaufort wind scale, distance along the transect, distance from the transect, and number of birds sighted. Additional parameters included the distance the transect was moved between each trial to increase accuracy and precision. This lab continues to teach proper transect and random sampling techniques in order to observe the abundance of different mobile organisms. The new technique was how, when, and why to use a belt transect. The benefits of this type of transect is to cover a larger area in a shorter amount of time. Lab partners were Abera, Sufyan, and Alex.