3.1.5 Weather

During wet, cold or windy weather, birds may be less active and less detectable. Observers also have trouble concentrating because of the uncomfortable conditions and are more prone to make errors. Weather can cause severe safety hazards when traversing river banks (slippery rocks) or during at-sea boat surveys for harlequins. Certain types of surveys (notably aerial) must be limited to specific weather conditions; for example aerial surveys should occur when winds are less than 10 knots.

3.1.6 Effort and Speed

Errors in an estimate are generally inversely related to effort and directly related to speed for any given method. It is important that these factors are standardized between observers and between sites and years to be able to produce comparable results for certain types of surveys such as aerial or boat-based surveys.

3.1.7 Personnel

All survey methods need trained personnel capable of identification and age/sex determination of the various species. Dippers and kingfishers, and harlequins on breeding streams are unmistakable. However, workers may require training in harlequin identification at other times of year. Moulting harlequins can be confused with other sea ducks and misidentifications are possible. Also moulting male harlequins are frequently misidentified as females or young of the year. Harlequins are particularly difficult to see during moult when they spend considerable time hauled-out on rocks, standing amongst brown algae.

Variability always exists among observers in experience, ability to identify and count birds at various distances, and in visual acuity. Training may be required to ensure that observers are of comparable ability and understand the methodology to be used.

3.1.8 Habitat Data Standards

A minimum amount of habitat data must be collected for each survey type. The type and amount of data collected will depend on the scale of the survey, the nature of the focal species, and the objectives of the inventory. As most, provincially-funded wildlife inventory projects deal with terrestrially-based wildlife, the terrestrial Ecosystem Field Form developed jointly by MOF and MELP (1995) will be used. However, under certain circumstances, this may be inappropriate and other RIC-approved standards for ecosystem description may be used. For dippers, harlequin ducks, and kingfishers it may be appropriate to describe riverine habitats using a portions of the Stream Survey site card, available from MELP Fisheries Branch. For a generic but useful description of approaches to habitat data collection in association with wildlife inventory, consult the manual, Species Inventory Fundamentals (No. 1).

3.1.9 Survey Design Hierarchy

Riverine bird surveys follow a survey design hierarchy which is structured similarly to all RIC standards for species inventory. Figure 1 clarifies certain terminology used within this manual (also found in the glossary), and illustrates the appropriate conceptual framework for a river shoreline survey. A survey set up following this design will lend itself well to standard methods and RIC data forms.

Figure 1. RIC species inventory survey design hierarchy with examples.

3.2 Inventory Surveys

The table below outlines the type of surveys that are used for inventorying riverine birds for the various survey intensities. These survey methods have been recommended by wildlife biologists and approved by the Resources Inventory Committee.

Table 2. Types of inventory surveys, the data forms needed, and the level of intensity of the survey.

Note: See Table 1 to ensure surveys are conducted in the appropriate season for the target species and the level of intensity desired.

Survey Type	Forms Needed	*Intensity
Aerial (Harlequin Duck)	Wildlife Inventory Project Description Form Wildlife Inventory Survey Description Form - General Animal Observations Form- Harlequin Duck Aerial & Marine Offshore Island Survey	PN RA AA
Marine Boat Offshore Island (Harlequin Duck)	Wildlife Inventory Project Description Form Wildlife Inventory Survey Description Form - General Animal Observation Form - Harlequin Duck- Aerial & Marine Offshore Island Survey	PN RA AA
Land-based Marine Shoreline (Harlequin Duck)	Wildlife Inventory Project Description Form Wildlife Inventory Survey Description Form - General Animal Observation Form- Harlequin Duck- Land-based Marine Shoreline Survey	PN RA
River Shoreline (all spp depending on season)	Wildlife Inventory Project Description Form Wildlife Inventory Survey Description Form - General Animal Observation Form- Riverine Bird- River Shoreline Survey	PN RA
Territory Length (American Dipper)	Wildlife Inventory Project Description Form Wildlife Inventory Survey Description Form - General Animal Observation Form- American Dipper- Territory Length	AA (RA)
Mark/ recapture (all spp depending on season)	Wildlife Inventory Project Description Form Wildlife Inventory Survey Description Form - General Capture (Stations) Form - Riverine Bird Animal Observation Form- Riverine Bird- Capture	AA

*PN = presence/not detected (possible); RA = relative abundance; AA = absolute abundance