A target list of likely species can help to remind you of what might be found
but is still missing, and this can double as a standardized recording form. Lists
can be derived from field guides or local faunal studies. Endemics of restricted
range (Stattersfield et al. 1998) or threatened species (BirdLife International
2000) are likely to be of particular interest. Local people may often know some-
thing of their birds and can be prompted with pictures from field guides but
beware of the common tendency to want to please, which can result in optimistic
or mistaken evidence of occurrence.
Working at the right time is fairly obvious as far as time of day is concerned.
Some species are only active and vocal early in the morning. Especially in the
tropics, this period of activity may be extremely short for some species; perhaps
just one call per day before first light. Other species require evening visits.
At temperate latitudes with a distinct breeding season, visits can be made early
enough in the year to catch the resident species when they are singing, and
continue through the period of peak activity for the migrants. In the tropics,
breeding may follow the seasonality of rainfall but different species may have
different seasons. Experience will be needed to understand the effects of survey-
ing at different seasons and for some purposes, year round surveys may be
required if residents and non-breeding migrants are involved. In many places in
the tropics, the patterns of non-breeding movements and habitat requirements
are not well known. So year round surveys are much needed.
The third key to finding everything in a sample area is looking in all the right
places. Some species will only be found in particular habitats such as wet areas,
streamsides, or bamboo thickets. Many species will be attracted to particular
fruiting or flowering trees. Bird flocks are worth watching carefully to make sure
that all member species have been identified. Some species are most easily detected
in flight over a forest canopy and can best be found by watching from a good
vantage-point. Especially in the tropics, altitude is a major determinant of
distribution and all altitudes in a study area need to be checked. Competitive
birdwatchers will be well familiar with these techniques, which are those used to
collect the longest list as quickly as possible. Playback of pre-recorded calls can
be used to check for the presence of particular likely species, but this procedure
is unlikely to produce different results from surveys not using this technique.
Playback of field recorded sounds can also be used to help identify unidentified
calls although there should not be too many of these.
Mist nets are sometimes used as a bird survey tool, but there is not much to
recommend them. While they may catch some skulking and hard-to-see species,
they will fail to catch a large part of the avifauna especially larger species, agile
aerial foragers and anything that lives in the higher canopy. Safe use of netting
Finding the birds| 5