Red-vented Bulbul census participants,
Please see the announcement below about our 3rd annual Red-vented Bulbul census which will take place on Saturday, June 2, from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM in the Heights and surrounding area.
Please send an RSVP email to participate.
Last year was a great success thanks to you. We tallied 42 bulbuls, a nearly 45% increase from our 2016 census. This is in large part due to our expanded search area and increased participation. The map shows where our census birds were located (orange dots) compared to previous bulbul reports (blue dots). You can see a couple of locations where our findings represented a new location for bulbul. We have not gathered enough data from our checklists of other bird species tallied during the survey, so we cannot yet make any hypotheses based on that information.
We hope you will be able to participate again this year. We would love it if you would be willing to survey the same route you did last year, but I can make some changes upon request. Please note the census will from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM. Please let me know as soon as possible whether or not you will be able to participate. Below is the announcement:
In conjunction with the Houston Audubon Society’s Citizen Science Committee, Fred Collins and Kendra Kocab are organizing the 3rd Annual Red-vented Bulbul Census, and we would like your help. The census will take place on Saturday, June 2, from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM in the Heights and surrounding area. Last year’s survey found 42 bulbuls. The birds should be actively nesting and feeding young at this time of year, making them easier to detect. We will cover the area via transects. Each person/pair will cover approximately 2 miles on foot. We would like to have people bird in pairs (particularly, a man and a woman when possible) so as not to cause distress among people living in the Heights when strangers with binoculars start peering into their yards on a Saturday morning.
One goal is to get an idea of the size of the population by recording as many bulbuls as possible at one time. We would also like to check some gaps in the area where no bulbuls have been reported on eBird. We hope to expand the survey to other areas of the city if we get additional observers.
If you are interested in participating in the census, please let us know as soon as possible so we can determine how many transects we can cover and if we have enough participants to expand the survey area. Tell us if you already have someone to pair up with. We are looking for people who can identify bulbuls by sight and/or sound and who can be cautious and respectful while birding in a neighborhood. If there are other people who meet these requirements, please let us know so we may contact them as well.
After 9:00 AM, we will meet at BB’s Café, 701 White Oak Dr. Houston 77008 to do a countdown. They will provide us with coffee, and Fred or Kendra will try to bring donuts. We will contact all of those interested in participating soon with information on which transects they will be birding, how to conduct the survey, and where we will meet after.
Thanks,
Kendra Kocab
Naturalist: Kleb Woods Nature Center
Commissioner Steve Radack
Harris County Precinct 3
www.pct3.com/parks/kleb-park/
