Lower Jinsha Valley bird study

This study represents a systematic bird survey in part of the Lower Jinsha Valley, in Western China. The intention of the study is to document the bird fauna of the area before it undergoes significant environmental transformation. The study area will be affected by the construction of a series of large hydropower dams along the Jinsha (Yangtze) River. Flooding of the valleys in this area will be to an elevation of 825m and will result in the inundation of substantial areas of farmland and much of the current sparse and poor quality forest habitat in Ningnan County (Sichuan Province) and Qiaojia County (Yunnan Province). Bird searches were conducted at 15 locations (5 in forest, 5 in farmland, 5 in Leucaena plantation) during two survey periods.
Two visits were made to each location during each study period. One visit occurred during the morning and involved a timed transect search plus a list building search. The other visit occurred during the afternoon and involved a list building search only. The timed transect search involved noting birds seen along the 100m transect during a 20min search period. No recorded calls were used to attract birds during the timed transect search, which always occurred prior to the list building search. List building searches were conducted in the interests of maximizing the opportunity to identify species present at each location. Each list building search involved an initial broadcast playback of the call of Collared Owlet (Glaucidium brodiei) followed by identification of birds seen or heard, including birds responding to the call of the owlet. Collared Owlet is a small owl, which sometimes hunts diurnally. It is commonly mobbed by small songbirds (Mackinnon and Phillips, 2010). Where necessary, previously recorded calls of particular bird species were used to encourage birds to respond and therefore confirm identification. In some cases, calling birds were recorded in situ and these calls were immediately played back in order to encourage a response and allow visual identification. All birds clearly identified visually or by their call were recorded, including birds of prey seen flying overhead or in nearby valleys. Birds seen on roadsides during transit between locations were noted separately and are included in the bird list for the survey period, but not included in analyses.
The visualisation of the survey data is part of an interoperable web-GIS maintained by the Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation(CeRDI) at Federation University Australia (FedUni).

本研究针对中国西部金沙江下游河谷部分区域开展系统性鸟类调查，旨在在该区域发生显著环境改变前，完整记录其鸟类区系组成。本研究涉及的区域将受金沙江（长江）干流一系列大型水电大坝建设的影响：该区域河谷将被淹没至海拔825米，导致四川省宁南县与云南省巧家县的大片农田，以及当前分布稀疏、质量低劣的多数森林生境被淹没。

本次调查在两个时段内于15个样点开展，其中5个样点位于森林生境、5个位于农田生境、5个位于银合欢（Leucaena）人工林。每个样点在每个调查时段内开展两次走访：一次于上午进行，包含计时样线调查与名录构建调查；另一次于下午进行，仅开展名录构建调查。

计时样线调查指在20分钟内沿100米样线记录所见鸟类，全程未使用录音鸣唱诱引鸟类，且该调查始终先于名录构建调查开展。名录构建调查旨在最大化识别样点内现存物种的机会，其流程为：首先播放领角鸮（Glaucidium brodiei）的鸣唱录音，随后对所见或听闻的鸟类进行识别，包括对该鸮类鸣唱做出回应的鸟类。领角鸮是一种小型鸮类，有时会在日间捕猎，常遭小型鸣禽围攻（Mackinnon与Phillips, 2010）。必要时，研究人员会使用预先录制的特定鸟类鸣唱来诱引鸟类，以辅助物种鉴定。部分案例中，研究人员会现场录制正在鸣叫的鸟类的鸣唱，并随即播放以诱引鸟类现身，进而实现视觉识别。所有通过视觉或鸣唱清晰识别的鸟类均被记录，包括飞越头顶或邻近河谷的猛禽。在样点间转运途中于路边所见的鸟类会被单独记录，并纳入该调查时段的鸟类名录，但不纳入数据分析。

本次调查数据的可视化工作依托澳大利亚联邦大学（Federation University Australia, FedUni）电子研究与数字创新中心（Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation, CeRDI）维护的可互操作网络地理信息系统（web-GIS）开展。