Re: Gang-Gang Survey Month - June

[John Leonard <>]

Hi everyone

Below are the 'rules' for reporting Gang-Gang sightings to me during the month of June. (Could these be printed in the COG newsletter?)

The post-it version is:

1. Send sightings to me, not the chatline, weekly or at the end of the month

2. Report all Gang-Gang sightings during June

3. Report all outings where you went birdwatching in the Canberra urban area but didn't see Gang-Gangs

cheers

John L

The several post-its version:

Gang-Gang Reporting Month: June 2012

In August 2010 and June 2011, Gang-Gang surveys were conducted in the Canberra urban area. These were an attempt to estimate Gang-Gangs numbers in this area. These consisted of observers heading to known Gang-Gang hotspots and counting numbers during one hour on a specified day.

These surveys failed to locate significant numbers of Gang-Gangs, leaving the question of the abundance of Gang-Gangs in the Canberra urban area unanswered.

In an attempt to get a baseline measurement of Gang-Gang abundance in this area using a survey methodology that can easily be repeated from year to year, a Gang-Gang reporting month will be conducted in June 2012.

During this month please report all sightings of Gang-Gangs anywhere in the ACT to m("gmail.com","calyptorhynchus");">

Obviously, it will be easier if you collect your sightings and supply them to me weekly, or in one hit at the end of the month.

Please report:

1. GGs observed as you go about your ordinary business, ie at home, around the suburb, from work &c or GGs observed when you go birdwatching in ‘urban bushland’ (but not further afield). So it you go to Callum Brae, Black Mountain or whatever, count these, but not if you go to Namadgi, Tidbinbilla &c

2. Birdwatching trips in urban bushland where no GGs are observed.*

“Rules”

1. Give an accurate location or latitude/longitude reading.

2. Give a time accurate to ten minutes.

3. Describe the weather conditions at the time

4. Give a number for the Gang-Gangs observed and try to identify by sex and age, ie adult male/adult female, immature male (immature female may be impossible to identify in the field).

5. If heard only, report as ‘heard’, specifying place and time. If more than one bird is heard report the number heard.

6. Describe the behaviour of the birds, ie if feeding specify which trees they were feeding in, any interactions &c

7. Describe the bird movements, eg flying over, flew into trees then fed, feeding then flew away, direction of flight &c

If you observe a group of birds, and then observe a group of similar numbers in the same place, say, an hour later, then they are probably the same birds, so don’t report them again. But if you observe a group in one place and a group in the same place at any greater time interval (two, three hours later), then report both sightings.

I will collate the records and publish them, and if a survey using the same methodology can be conducted in subsequent years, trends in Gang-Gang abundance from year to year will be able to be monitored.

In this and future surveys the ratio of number of sightings to number of observers will be calculated. Observers not encountering Gang-Gangs should report that they were observers but found no Gang-Gangs, as otherwise observer effort will be understated (and thus the sighting ratio overstated, making it misleading as an indicator of population trends).*

If you look for gang-gangs in June please report the results whether or not you find Gang-Gangs.

Not finding Gang-Gangs is just as important as finding Gang-Gangs!

*The reason for wanting nil returns is that the metric for the survey is going to be:

A-B/C

Where A =number of reports of GGs

B =number of nil returns from urban bushland trips

C =number of observers submitting observations

--
John Leonard
Canberra
Australia
www.jleonard.net

I want to be with the 9,999 other things.