Frogs Toads and Fire

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Flammulated Owl Distribution and Detections in
Montana Results from a region-wide survey
Amy Cilimburg Avian Science Center University of
Montana
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Landbird Monitoring Program

• Bird point counts -- 1994 - many partners
• Long-term monitoring and habitat relationships
• Management effects
• Target species

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FLAM BACKGROUND

• Neotropical migrants
• Arrive MT early to mid-May
• Strictly nocturnal
• Not captured via other monitoring efforts

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FLAM BACKGROUND cont.

• Feed primarily on Lepidoptera nocturnal moths
• Habitat requirements
• Large snags (Pileated WP or N. Flicker holes)
• Open forests for foraging
• Dense patches for roosting

• Forest type
• Ponderosa Pine / Douglas Fir
• Open Doug fir mix

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US Forest Service Region 1
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2005 USFS - LBMP GOALS

• Develop R1 protocol for Flammulated Owl surveys
• Determine distribution especially east of the
  divide
• Expand understanding of habitat associations
  especially west
• Establish repeatable routes
• Determine detection probability

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Protocol and Planning

• Protocol -- talked with owl experts and Forest
  Service biologists reviewed the literature.
• Combined -- understanding of owl behavior
  logistical realities..
• Nocturnal Broadcast Surveys
• Transects along roads or trails
• Spatial data via GPS
• Standardized calling procedures
• Where to survey???????

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WHERE TO SURVEY???

• Previously established surveys on some forests,
  none on others

• GIS MODELING
• Overall, cast a wide net in reasonable habitat
• Forest-specific vegetation and road layers
• Use age class (old growth or mature), size
  class, canopy cover
• Stands within 500m of roads or trails

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Lolo National Forest
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STANDARDIZED DATA FORMS
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THE 2005 FIELD SEASON

• Cold wet June
• No night-time encounters with Mountain Lions,
  drunken locals
• No one fell asleep and crashed while driving back
  to camp
• There are owls out there!

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Other Owls

• 49 Great Horned Owls
• 24 Barred Owls
• 21 Northern Saw-whet Owl
• 5 Northern Pygmy Owls
• 4 Boreal Owls
• 3 Western Screech Owls
• 2 Great Grey Owls
• 2 Long-eared Owls
• 1 Short-eared Owl

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Flam Owls detected Flams
NOT detected
Idaho
Montana
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BY THE NUMBERS

• Detected 243 FLAMS 9 of points
• Set up and ran 265 transects (2721 pts)
• Resampled on 5 forests 59 transects
• Approximately 206 unique owls
• On all but 3 forests Lewis Clark, Custer,
  Gallatin

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More Numbers

• Owls detected May 9-July 21
• first and last day of surveying!
• Detections only slightly lower after mid-June.
• 65 of detections made after playing caller
  early season 50.
• Extended call increased our detections.

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More Results

• DETECTION
• the probability of detecting an owl at a site in
  a single visit, when present.
• Overall detection probability 0.72

• OCCUPANCY
• the fraction of sampling units in a landscape
  where a target species is present.
• Overall Probability of Occurrence for R1 0.388
• 10 higher than if no detection adjustment

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Occupancy
FOREST transects with FLAMS Prob. Presence Std. Error
NEZ PERCE 16 0.747 0.115
LOLO 18 0.655 0.117
BITTERROOT 14 0.594 0.123
HELENA 11 0.512 0.120
BH-DL 5 0.359 0.139
FLATHEAD 1 0.132 0.126
CLEARWATER 2 0.120 0.081
IPNF 2 0.119 0.124
CUSTER 0 0 0
LEWIS CLARK 0 0 0
GALLATIN 0 0 0
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Occupancy, cont.

• HELPFUL PAPER
• MacKenzie and Royle. 2005. Designing occupancy
  studies general advice and allocating survey
  effort. Journal of Applied Ecology 42
  1105-1114.
• RARE SPECIES more efficient to survey more
  sampling units less intensively.
• COMMON SPECIES - fewer sampling units should be
  surveyed more intensively.

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Optimal of surveys to conduct at each
site.. Table 1 from MacKenzie and Royle 2005
p ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
p 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09
01 14 15 16 17 18 20 23 26 34
02  7  7  8  8  9 10 11 13 16
03  5  5  5  5  6  6  7  8 10
04  3  4  4  4  4  5  5  6  7
05  3  3  3  3  3  3  4  4  5
06  2  2  2  2  3  3  3  3  4
07  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  3  3
08  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2
09  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2
P Detection probability
? Prob. of occurrence
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Occupancy, cont.

• Journal of Wildlife Management 2005
• Special Section in Issue 3 The value and
  utility of Presence-Absence Data in Wildlife
  Monitoring and Research

• New Book
• Occupancy Estimation and Modeling inferring
  Patterns and Dynamics of Species Occurrence.
  2006. MacKenzie et al.

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Habitat Associations

• 60 ponderosa pine / doug fir
• 75 ponderosa anything
• 25 primarily Douglas Fir with other associated
  species
• However, need to look different scales, gis.
  More work here.

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• A FLAM was calling from the ridge in the
  foreground in early July. 
• Primarily Doug-fir, with large P pines, and a few
  large snags on ridge. 
• Bertie Lord Creek watershed, Sula Ranger
  District, Bitterroot NF. 

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• Two Flammulated Owls called from within 50 meters
  of this location in mid-July.
• Woods Creek watershed, West Fork Ranger District,
  Bitterroot NF

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Winter Wren
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http//avianscience.dbs.umt.edu
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FUTURE????
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THANKS

• US Forest Service Skip Kowalski and Forest
  Biologists
• The many intrepid nocturnal field technicians
• Vita Wright
• Jim Baldwin, USFS PSW statistician
• ASC Staff Anna Noson (GIS)

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