Dear Cayuga Area Birders, It is almost time for the 2015-2016 short-eared owl survey season! The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Region 8 Wildlife Office is looking for volunteers to assist with wintering raptor surveys. The species of greatest interest is the short-eared owl, a state endangered species, but all raptor observations are important and will be documented. From these surveys, we hope to learn more about wintering population sizes, movement patterns, and the factors that influence winter habitat choice. The findings of this study will ultimately be applied toward developing a conservation plan for this species. Surveys will be conducted from ½ hour before sunset to ½ hour after, and we meet before and after each survey to coordinate efforts and talk about our observations. This work does involve lots of standing out in cold weather, but I hope that the excitement of seeing raptors (and some provided snacks) will help to insulate us! For those interested, there are two meeting locations to coordinate efforts before and after each outing:
1. Region 8 NYSDEC Office, 6274 East Avon-Lima Road, Avon, NY 14414 2. Ulysses Philomathic Library, 74 East Main Street, Trumansburg, NY 14886 Our tentative survey schedule is as follows: Avon Area: December 1, 15, 29; January 12 & 26; February 9 & 23; March 8 & 22; April 5 & 19. Trumansburg Area: December 3 & 17; January 14 & 28; February 11 & 25; March 10 & 24; April 7 & 21. Our first few meetings/surveys will be from about 3:15PM to 6:00PM, but this will start to change along with the sunset. Please let me know if you have any questions or are interested in coming out for surveys. Whether you can participate for the entire season or for only a single evening, we would greatly appreciate your assistance! Thank you, Christina Hoh Region 8 Bureau of Wildlife New York State Department of Environmental Conservation 6274 East Avon-Lima Road Avon, NY 14414-9519 (585) 226-5383 [email protected] -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
