Help Conduct the Nightjar Survey

The 7th year of the Nightjar Survey Network is kicking off soon with survey dates in April for southern portions of the United States and later dates in May and June for other areas. This will be the first entire season with the new survey website www.nightjars.org. The new website provides an opportunity for volunteers and the general public to work more interactively with nightjar survey data, adopt survey routes online, enter data, view past survey years, and receive noteworthy Nightjar Survey news items.

The Nightjar Survey Network is a program designed to collect information on the population distribution and trends of nightjars, such as whip-poor-wills, chuck-will’s-widows, common poorwills, and others. Data collected also provide clues to factors that influence their abundance and help to plot a course fir their conservation (seehttp://www.nightjars.org/survey-news/nightjar-survey-network-investigate-the-influence-of-landscape-composition-on-nightjar-populations/).

Since 2007, 564 volunteers have surveyed 695 routes and have counted over 12,000 nightjars. We are always in need of additional volunteers to survey routes. Nightjar survey routes are composed of 10 stops, spaced one mile apart, and can be completed in less than 2hrs.

If interested in helping out collecting data that can help conserve nightjar species, visit thewww.nightjars.org website, see a map of available routes, log-in to adopt a route, and review and print survey instructions.

For more information, contact Michael Wilson, Center for Conservation Biology
College of William and Mary & Virginia Commonwealth University, at e-mail: nightjars@nightjars.org