The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) needs volunteers to assist with five 2020 North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) routes to be surveyed one morning between May 27 and July 7.
According to MDC, the BBS is a longterm, large-scale, international bird monitoring program that started in 1966. The purpose of the BBS is to track the status and trends of North American bird populations. Each year during mostly June — the height of the bird-breeding season for most of the U.S. – BBS volunteers collect bird-population data along roadside survey routes to help.
Each survey route is 24.5 miles long with stops at half-mile intervals. At each stop, volunteers conduct three-minute point counts where they record data on the bird species and numbers they see or hear within a quarter-mile radius. Surveys must start one-half hour before sunrise and take about five hours to complete. Volunteers need only conduct their survey route once during the May 27 – July 7 survey period.
For more info on the BBS, visit pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/.