A Land Manager's Guide to Point Counts of Birds in the Southeast

that can accept field data directly, check for simple
errors in transcription, and produce output in flexible
format for sharing with other workers. In the future,
field procedures that permit direct entry of data into
hand-held computers, eliminating all transcription
errors, will become available.
Summarizing Field Data into Reports
The Basics.-Reports that express the number of
birds of each species found on a property, are the
desired outcome of the point count survey The
simplest list is one in which the species are listed
alphabetically together with the total number of
counts on which each was found, and the total
number of birds of each species. Such lists can be
tailored to express the number of birds and their
frequency per count on separate habitats or in
separate years (tables 2,3). Note that an important
part of the process of producing bird lists will be to
put the species into the standard checklist order
(American Ornithologists’ Union 1983, table 3).
Ornithologists and birdwatchers routinely list birds
in this sequence.
More Detail.-Data gathered in point count surveys
can be presented in many ways. Convenient
examples include Peterjohn and Sauer (1993), Smith
and others (1993), and various articles in recent issues
of Journal of Wildlife Management, Southern Journal of
Applied Forestry, and other publications.
Table 2.-Portion of sample bird lists resulting
from point count surveys on
hypothetical wildlife management
area (simple alphabetical list)
Species Point Counts* Individuals
___________ Number ___-___-__
Acadian flycatcher 14 19
American redstart 3 3
Blue jay 22 27
Carolina chickadee 27 44
Great crested flycatcher 7 11
Red-eyed vireo 33 61
Red-shouldered hawk 1 1
White-breasted nuthatch 4 6
*Number of counts on which each species was recorded in sample
of 52 counts in 1993.
Table 3.-Portion of sample bird lists resulting
from point count surveys on
hypothetical wildlife management
area (comparison of two years’
surueys, species in checklist sequence)
1993 1994
Species Counts* Birds Counts+ Birds
Number Total Number Total
Red-shouldered hawk 1 1 0 0
Acadian flycatcher 14 19 22 41
Great crested flycatcher 7 11 5 11
Blue jay 22 27 26 29
Carolina chickadee 27 44 38 51
White-breasted nuthatch 4 6 3 3
Red-eyed vireo 33 61 47 55
American redstart 3 3 3 5
‘Number of counts on which each species was recorded in sample
of 52 point counts in 1993. Total of 525 birds of 65 species recorded
in 1993.
‘Number of counts on which each species was recorded in sample
of 65 point counts in 1994. Total of 663 birds of 63 species recorded
in 1994.
HAPPY POINT COUNT CENSUSING!
Monitoring and inventorying with point counts are
the beginning, not the end, of information gathering
by land managers seeking to incorporate nongame
birds into their management of southeastern habitats.
Conducting point count surveys will lead logically to
identification of situations where more powerful
tools, such as nest searching or constant-effort mist
netting, will become necessary in gathering sufficient
information for making proactive management
decisions.
The task of managing birds on one property cannot
be accomplished by the manager of that property
working alone. For example, factors affecting
migratory bird populations extend beyond the limits
of any one property. Joining together with other land
managers to coordinate monitoring and inventorying
on the basis of common.physiographic areas will lead
individual managers to more effective stewardship of
the birds on their own properties. Such stewardship
wilI undoubtedly result in more effective
management of birds throughout the Southeast.
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