Nicolet National Forest Birding Survey
Birding With a Purpose
Over 680 volunteers. 173 species. One incredible legacy.
The Nicolet National Forest Bird Survey, originally lead and organized by retired CCB director Dr. Robert Howe, brought together bird lovers, students and scientists for a weekend of discovery each June from 1987 to 2016. This annual event—one of the longest-running volunteer bird monitoring programs in any U.S. National Forest—invited anyone with a passion for birds and a sense of adventure to help survey breeding bird populations across the 360,000-hectare Nicolet National Forest. With over 680 volunteers contributing across three decades, the survey recorded at least 173 bird species and compiled more than 70,000 observations at 522 monitoring points. Most of these sites were revisited every other year, creating a rich, long-term dataset that continues to inform forest management and conservation strategies.
Field Methods
Approximately 150 sites were surveyed annually, though a total of 522 sites were surveyed across the 30-year span of this effort.
Where
Located within the Headwaters Wilderness Important Bird Area, the Nicolet National Forest (NNF) encompasses 360,000 hectares of extensive mixed hardwood-conifer forests, lowland swamps, glacial lakes, and wetlands in northeastern Wisconsin. It comprises the eastern portion of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest with headquarters in Rhinelander and Park Falls, Wisconsin.
Who
Participants worked in teams, consisting of one or more group leaders who are experts in bird song identification. Other team members participated as timekeeper, navigator, audio recorder operator or data recorder. Each team was assigned a group of approximately 6-10 sites for the morning surveys. Some sites were located along roads, while others required a short hike into the target habitat.
How
Bird data were collected using standardized 10-minute, unlimited-distance point count surveys (Knutson et al. 2016). All birds seen or heard from a stationary point were recorded during a 10-minute period regardless of how far away the bird was to the observer. Bird observers recorded birds during the surveys using a standardized bird point Census Form, which also includes noting the minute and distance a bird was detected and basic habitat and weather information.
Bird Audio Recordings
In upland and lowland forested habitats, common bird species reported over the years include Ovenbird, Red-eyed Vireo, Black-throated Green Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Hermit Thrush, Least Flycatcher, White-throated Sparrow, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Scarlet Tanager. In wetter habitats, such as bogs and lowland shrub habitats, volunteers frequently recorded species such as Common Yellowthroat, Alder Flycatcher, Red-winged Blackbird and Song Sparrow during field surveys. During some years, if volunteers were lucky, they even found several uncommon to rare species, including many with population declines, such as Boreal Chickadee, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Magnolia Warbler, Red-shouldered Hawk, Cape May Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Connecticut Warbler, and Canada Warbler.
Site 503
Located in swamp conifer, you can hear a nice variety of bird species, including Golden-crowned Kinglet, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Winter Wren and Nashville Warbler, among many others.
Listen
Site 508
This site is located in a hemlock-dominated forest stand. Take a listen to hear the NNF's most common species, like Red-eyed Vireo, Black-throated Green Warbler and Ovenbird. You may also hear Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Blue Jay and others.
Listen
Site 630
Site 630 mainly consists of dry, upland shrubs. White-throated Sparrow, Nashville Warbler, Black-capped Chickadee and Yellow-rumped Warbler sing quite loudly throughout the bird survey.
Listen
View Our Data
If you need access to any of our data, it's available upon request. Over the years, data have been used in a variety of ways, such as estimating and modeling forest bird populations, informing forest management decisions and incorporated into master's thesis projects.
Impacts of Our Work
Scientists and researchers on campus, in our community and beyond have used NNF Bird Survey data to better understand and conserve breeding birds and their habitats.
Analysis of Long-term Great Lakes National Forest Bird Data
In collaboration with scientists from the U.S. Forest Service, University of Minnesota Duluth, UW-Superior and UW-Green Bay, Gerald Niemi from the UM-Duluth and the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity's Bob Howe, now retired, led an effort to summarize forest bird monitoring data collected between 1991 and 2011 in the Nicolet and Chequamegon National Forests in Wisconsin and the Chippewa and Superior National Forests in Minnesota. They published a large U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report in 2016 that represents one of the most comprehensive analyses of North American bird populations. The report also included UW-Green Bay students as authors.
Ecological Index of Forest Health Based on Breeding Birds
Like other organisms, wild birds cope with the cumulative effects of habitat degradation, environmental pollution, invasive species, climate change and other (often un-measurable) threats to environmental quality. The regular presence of certain bird species, therefore, helps us assess the overall ecological health of an area. As her master's thesis project, Erin Giese, along with collaborators Robert Howe, Amy Wolf, Nicholas Miller and Nicholas Walton, used NNF Bird Survey data and other datasets to develop an Index of Ecological Condition (IEC) for northern mesic forests that helps you evaluate the health of these forests.
Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas
UW-Green Bay Master's Theses
Over the years, more than a dozen UW-Green Bay graduate students in the Environmental Science and Policy program have incorporated NNF Bird Survey data into their master's thesis projects covering topics, such as bird distribution patterns and forest condition.
Ask an Expert
Meet Erin Giese, Associate Director of the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity. She champions student experience and truly enjoys training the next generation of scientists. If you have questions about the Nicolet National Forest Birding Survey, Erin can help.