North American Migration Count Rules and Instructions

Introduction
Each county compiler is responsible for organizing the count and supplying accurate summaries of their counts to the state coordinator. The local compiler also is responsible for submitting details or remarks justifying the inclusion of unusual species. Please have those species designated with bold on the count form carefully documented. Questions may be asked of some species not requiring documentation. These are the minimum regional levels of documentation i.e. UP, NLP, SLP. You may well want to scrutinize other observations of certain species that are uncommon in your county. Some species in bold, such as Kirtland's Warblers and Piping Plovers on their normal breeding areas, need no documentation. If you have any questions which are not covered in the following instructions, or if you need help in establishing you count, please email Mike Petrucha at petucha@excite.com or call 810-635-9675.

Have a safe and enjoyable count.

Count Information

  1. The count day is always the second Saturday in May.
  2. Complete coverage of the county is best achieved by having each team spend about the same amount of time in each habitat in their area. All habitats in the county should be covered equally.
  3. Different types of birding produce different species composition and numbers of individuals. Therefore, to make analysis more accurate and meaningful, the data from each type of count must be collected and recorded separately. The three methods used for counting are: regular, feeder, and night or "owling".

    Regular: This is the "traditional" method of birding where the observer moves from one place to another during the dawn to dusk time period. In theory, the birds are more or less stationary within a geographic area and the observer moves about through the area on foot, car, bike, canoe, etc. This includes stationary or "hawk watch" types of counts. In Michigan, this is usually associated with the Great Lakes shoreline.

    Feeder Watching: Feeder watchers count only the birds that are attracted to their feeders or bird bath. Birds seen in other parts of their yard or nearby should be recorded separately and included in the regular column of the form. In general, the minimum feeder watching time for the day should be 1 hour. Please inform feeder watchers that birds coming to feeders should not be summed over the day. Only the high number of individuals of any species seen at one time should be recorded.

    Night: Includes all birding done from midnight to dawn and from dusk to midnight. The purpose is to record those species that typically call or sing at night: owls, whip-poor-wills, rails, etc. Generally this is a walking or driving route with stops to listen for calling birds. Observers may also choose to use a tape playback of songs or calls to solicit responses. Also, please be sure to have participants count the number of stops they make.

  4. The birds counted should be within county boundaries, except for the Great Lakes shoreline where offshore birds may be included.
  5. In general, the greater the number of capable observers, the better the coverage. Counts may be improved with the addition of participants from nearby areas. Compilers are urged to publicize their counts and recruit participants.
  6. Count only adult birds.
  7. Compilers should submit their results on the enclosed form.

Filling Out the Compilers Form

  1. Regular observers are listed separately from observers for feeder, and night observers. Also, list the number of hours and miles spent counting night and feeder watching separate from regular hours and miles. To calculate party hours, ascertain how many hours each party spent in the field and add those numbers. If for example, a party was out from 6:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., that would be 10.25 party hours. Now, suppose at 12:00 p.m., they split into 2 groups until 4:15 p.m., the total number of party hours then would be 14.5 hours not 10.25. Hours should be listed to the nearest quarter hour and miles to the nearest quarter mile.
  2. Determine how many parties used a tape playback during "regular counting" to lure birds into view or hearing. This is to try to determine if the "tapes" are a significantly more effective way to locate birds. This information can then be used when comparing the data.
  3. List the number of stops each party makes during the night counts. This gives a more accurate representation of effort for night counts. For continuity with past counts, please also include party miles and hours as well.
  4. The start time is the time the first party is in the field and the end time is when the last party stops. Starting and ending times should be listed to the nearest quarter hour.
  5. Give the weather conditions for the morning and afternoon. List precipitation as light, medium, or heavy, and duration of precipitation in hours to nearest half hour, wind with direction and speed, temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, and cloud cover as the percentage of clouds covering the sky.

Good birding!

Please return you results by June 4, 2010 to:

Jeff Buecking, 1225 Dauner Rd., Fenton, MI 48430

Counts received after that date may not be included in the results which will be published in Michigan Birds and Natural History (MBNH).

If you would like to see the count results for all counties, you can subscribe to Michigan Birds and Natural History. To subscribe, send a check for $25.00 and your name and address to:

Michigan Audubon Society/MBNH
6011 W. St. Joseph Suite 403
Lansing, MI 48917

Or purchase your subscription online by clicking here.