umr Projects

Minnesota Marshbird Surveys

Our Goals
Creating ongoing, long-term marshbird monitoring for the state of Minnesota that informs the effective management of these secretive birds and their wetland habitats.
What We’re Doing
We work with technicians and volunteers to survey wetlands across the state using established protocols.
Least Bittern peeping through dense grasses
Least Bittern. Photo: Joshua Galicki/Audubon Photography Awards

 

“Secretive marshbirds such as rails, bitterns, coots, and grebes are among the most poorly monitored bird groups in North America.”
Mike Monfils, Midwest Coordinated Bird Monitoring Partnership

Many marsh-dwelling birds are difficult to survey, in large part because of their inconspicuous nature, and also due to the difficulty of accessing their habitats. Avian surveys such as the Breeding Bird Survey and spring Waterfowl Surveys do not adequately monitor these species. Effective conservation planning and habitat management for marshbirds is limited by insufficient information regarding their abundance, distribution, population trends, habitat relationships, and management needs. To address this information gap, we use monitoring programs specifically for marshbirds have been developed across the Midwest using standardized data collection protocols. 

Our long-term conservation goals are:

  • To implement a standardized protocol for marshbird surveys statewide.
  • To estimate population status and trends of marshbirds.
  • To better inform management of wetland and marsh habitats.
  • To better inform harvest regulations of game species.
  • To provide a baseline for pre- and post-management activities in degraded wetland habitats.

Field surveys were done in the spring of 2016, 2017 and 2018 on a set of predetermined, randomly distributed wetlands statewide. The sites were carefully selected by a rigorous sampling framework to ensure that survey results may be extrapolated to statewide or regional trends. A team of field technicians and volunteer surveyors used a call-playback method designed to maximize the detection of secretive marshbirds. Using a series of silent periods and periods during which the calls of each species are broadcast across the wetland, surveyors recorded the species they detect. 
Project Lead
Dale Gentry

Dale Gentry

Conservation Director