British Columbia Nocturnal Owls Survey

Birds Canada
https://www.birdscanada.org

British Columbia Ministry of Environment
http://www.gov.bc.ca/env/

Project name: BC-Yukon Nocturnal Owl Survey Data Entry

Goals : The British Columbia-Yukon Nocturnal Owl Survey monitors trends in owl populations through road-based methods similar to those used in the Breeding Bird Survey.

Dataset summary : The British Columbia-Yukon Nocturnal Owl Survey monitors trends in owl populations through road-based methods similar to those used in the Breeding Bird Survey.

Status : Active

Year started : 2000

Years (comments) : ongoing

Frequency : Annually

Geographic area covered : BC and YT

Type(s) of habitat : all rural and forested habitats

Primary species covered : Eight owl species

Sampling Design : Randomly selected routes

Field methods : Similar to other roadside surveys using tape playback. Two volunteers drive pre-determined route, stopping at fixed intervals (1.6 km apart) along roadside. At each stop, 2-minute listening periods. Surveyor identifies and records all owls seen or heard during each listening period. Surveys begin one half hour after sunset during a single evening in spring and take approximately 1 hour to complete (not including travel time to and from the survey route).

Data format : In Access database, accessible on request

Sample size : 2072 stops

Results : annual newsletters sent to all participants; available in PDF on request

Trends and time series availability : Trends will be calculated after five years of data

Funding sources : BSC

Applications for the data : Counts used for statistical analysis of population trends, habitat associations, possibly population numbers

Users of the information : BSC, BC government biologists, YT and CWS biologists, other conservation organizations, raptor biologists

Environmental assessment : Used by CWS and YT governments for state of environment report in Yukon