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Point-count bird censusing: long-term monitoring of bird abundance and diversity along the Salt River in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, ongoing since 2013

Publication date: 2016-12-20

Author(s):

  • Heather Bateman, Arizona State University, Polytechnic campus
  • Dan Childers, Arizona State University
  • Paige Warren, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Abstract:

Waterways are often the focus of restoration efforts in urban areas. In arid regions, passive discharge of urban water sources may stimulate the recovery or growth of wetland and riparian features in dewatered or ephemeral aquatic systems. In the greater Phoenix metropolitan area (GPMA), sections of the Salt and Gila Rivers have been the targets of active restoration through seeding, planting, and irrigation. At the same time, revegetation has occurred in some sections of the rivers in response to runoff from urban water sources (e.g., storm drains). This dataset catalogs the results of bird surveys conducted at several locations along the Salt River in and around the GPMA beginning in March 2013. Monitoring locations focus on reaches of the river with different characteristics, including: (1) urbanized with perennial water and actively restored (n=2 reaches), (2) urbanized with perennial water and passively restored (n=2 reaches), (3) urbanized with ephemeral water but not restored (n=2 reaches), and (4) non-urban reference areas with perennial water (n=1 reach). This program expands on bird monitoring that the CAP LTER conducts at other locations in and around the GPMA, and complements herpetological surveys that are performed at these locations along the Salt River where the bird surveys are performed. This is a long-term monitoring effort of the CAP LTER with ongoing data collection.

Keywords:


Temporal Coverage:

2013-01-09 to 2016-06-10

Geographic Coverage:

Geographic Description: CAP LTER study area
Bounding Coordinates:
Longitude:-112.305 to -111.609
Latitude:33.56 to 33.3825

Contact:

Data Manager, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, 
PO Box 875402,Tempe
 caplter.data@asu.edu

Methods used in producing this dataset: Show


Data Files (3) :

Tabular: 641_srbp_birds_6a010d5c16e9c7c6c17d49704fff8462.csv

Description: bird survey sampling details (site, reach, date, time, observer, site conditions, and notes) and birds surveyed (type, number, distance from observer, behavior)

Column Description Type Units
site_code survey location identifier
string
reach sampling location along the Salt River
string
Enumeration:
  • Tonto: Salt River, Tonto National Forest, near Usery Road
  • Priest: Salt River flood channel, east of Priest Drive and west of Tempe Town Lake dam
  • Price: Salt River, by Price Drain, northeast of the loop 101 and loop 202 intersection
  • Rio: Salt River at Rio Salado; Central Ave, north of Broadway Rd
  • Ave35: Salt River at 35th Ave north of Broadway Rd
  • Ave67: Salt River at 67th Ave north of Southern Ave
  • BM: Baseline and Meridian Wildlife Area; Salt River at 115th Ave northeast of Phoenix International Raceway
survey_date survey date
date Format: YYYY-MM-DD
time_start survey start time
date Format: HH:MM:SS
time_end survey end time
date Format: HH:MM:SS
observer_initials initials of surveyors
string
survey_notes notes regarding survey
string
human_activity_notes notes regarding any human activity during the survey
string
wind qualitative assessment of wind speed during the survey
string
Enumeration:
  • none: no perecptible wind
  • light: light wind
  • gusts: wind gusts
precipitation qualitative assessment of precipitation during the survey
string
Enumeration:
  • none: no precipitation
  • light_rain: light rain
disturbances indication of a disturbance to the surveyor at the survey location during the survey
string
Enumeration:
  • 0: no perceptible disturbance to observer or in the vicinity during the survey
  • 1: disturbance occurred during the survey
sight_obstruct percent of the view obstructed
float dimensionless
noise_level qualitative assessment of noise level during the survey
string
Enumeration:
  • none: no noise during survey
  • low: low level noise during the survey
  • high: high level of noise during the survey
site_condition notes regarding the condition of the survey location
string
non_bird_species notes regarding non-bird fauna observed during the survey
string
code four-letter alpha code of observed taxon
string
common_name common name of observed taxon
string
distance relative distance or position of observed bird(s) relative to the observer
string
Enumeration:
  • 0-5: bird observed within zero to five meters of observer
  • 5-10: bird observed five to ten meters from observer
  • 10-20: bird observed ten to twenty meters from observer
  • 20-40: bird observed twenty to forty meters from observer
  • >40: bird observed forty or more meters from observer
  • FT: bird is seen flying through the count area below the tallest structure or vegetation, and not observed taking off or landing
bird_count quantity of the observed taxon
float number
observation_notes notes regarding bird observation
string
seen indication of whether the bird was seen
string
Enumeration:
  • 0: bird not identified by sight
  • 1: bird identified by sight
heard indication of whether the bird was heard
string
Enumeration:
  • 0: bird not identified by sound
  • 1: bird identified by sound
direction direction of the bird
string
Enumeration:
  • NW: north west
  • S: south
  • N: north
  • NE: north east
  • SE: south east
  • W: west
  • SW: south west
  • E: east
QCcomment quality control comments
string

Tabular: 641_srbp_reach_characteristics_453adbb454461211a422b296eee869c9.csv

Description: Salt River reach location of each sampling site, and general characteristics of that portion of the river where sampling is conducted

Column Description Type Units
site_code survey location identifier
string
reach sampling location along the Salt River
string
Enumeration:
  • Tonto: Salt River, Tonto National Forest, near Usery Road
  • Priest: Salt River flood channel, east of Priest Drive and west of Tempe Town Lake dam
  • Price: Salt River, by Price Drain, northeast of the loop 101 and loop 202 intersection
  • Rio: Salt River at Rio Salado; Central Ave, north of Broadway Rd
  • Ave35: Salt River at 35th Ave north of Broadway Rd
  • Ave67: Salt River at 67th Ave north of Southern Ave
  • BM: Baseline and Meridian Wildlife Area; Salt River at 115th Ave northeast of Phoenix International Raceway
urbanized boolean indicator denoting if the location is in an urban or non-urban setting
string
Enumeration:
  • urban: in urban area
  • NonUrban: outside urban area
restored boolean indicator denoting if the site was the focus of active restoration through plantings or seeding, or has not received treatment
string
Enumeration:
  • Restored: site received active restoration
  • NotRestored: site has not been restored
water boolean indicator denoting if the presence of water is perennial or ephemeral
string
Enumeration:
  • Ephemeral: water in channel intermittently
  • Perennial: water in channel continuously

File: 641_srbp_bird_locations_84e1d4b978ae4ad2fe1726a7d0e2e096.kml

Description: bird survey locations


Download EML Metadata for this data package