In Jasper National Park we have a regular bird monitoring program that helps track changes in bird abundance over time. Many bird species are vulnerable to ecosystem changes and birds are highly diverse, so bird monitoring provides good insight into the biodiversity of the park.
Additionally, some species of bird are very sensitive to any changes that may be happening in the park; gathering information about these species helps us understand pieces of what is happening within park ecosystems.
Birds are great to monitor because they sing and call, so we know they are there.
Parks Canada counts birds by listening to them.聽 We do this in the early morning and during the spring breeding season at multiple permanent bird monitoring locations in Jasper National Park.
Biologists who can 鈥渟peak bird鈥� (re: know all the bird songs and calls) are in high demand during the short bird breeding season in Canada.聽 Accordingly, we record all the birds singing at each site and then during the darker days of winter, our bird song specialist identifies every song and 鈥渃ounts鈥� the birds.
The field work can be demanding: employees involved in monitoring often need to wake up before 4 a.m. to get to the trailhead, hike in to the first site, and set up recording equipment in time to capture the birds as they begin to trill and sing. Some of the sites are in the backcountry, so staff camp overnight and combine the monitoring with other work such as clearing trails, checking bear rub trees, putting up signage and general tasks to help ensure visitors have a great experience.
Below, employee Heidi Fengler recounts a recent bird monitoring excursion that three Parks Canada team members took to Poboktan Pass.
鈥淓arly in the morning following the Canada Day fireworks, we set off en route to Poboktan Pass. We knew we needed the perfect weather for acoustic bird monitoring at 5 a.m. the next morning; too much wind or rain would make the recordings useless.
On our way up to the pass, we stopped at all the campgrounds to GPS the sites for new campground layout maps, and put up new signs on the bear poles and picnic tables. The trail was in good shape, with all fallen trees cut thanks to the hard work of Saakje Haazenberg and Al McKeeman on their clearing trip two weeks earlier. There was no new hair on the barbed wire on bear rub trees on the way up, but fresh grizzly tracks in the mud told us bears had been through, along with some wolves and a moose or two.
After stashing our food in a bear-proof container in a nearby snow patch, we set up camp next to the first bird recording spot.聽 Later that evening, the wind picked up and the rain came down 鈥� sideways. We were unsure how things would go the next morning, but we decided to remain optimistic and let the rain lull us to sleep. At 4:30 am, the sky cleared and the birds sang their cheerful morning melodies.鈥�
Currently, Parks Canada is in its sixth year of data collection for bird monitoring, allowing us to complete preliminary analyses to help better detect changes in bird species populations over time.
Understanding these local trends can ensure conservation efforts are directed in ways that will have the greatest positive impact for birds; however we also combine data from all the Rocky Mountain National Parks and we look forward to an analysis of this data later this year.
Parks Canada
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