Shorebird surveys in the Queen Elizabeth Islands Coordinate system: 4269 - "NAD83" Abstract: The high arctic shorebird surveys collect data about shorebird populations to identify habitat types, breeding, and nesting patterns. These data are part of the International Polar Year (IPY) program. Shorebird surveys were conducted in three parts: 1. Aerial Surveys: Flight height = 30m, Flight speed = 80 kph. We marked (GPS) locations along the route that were large patches of monotypic habitat (wetlands, uplands: dense veg, uplands: sparse veg, uplands: shrubs, unvegetated). 2. “Low and slow” Aerial Surveys: Flight height = 10-15m, Flight speed = 40 kph. Surveys were conducted in large patches of monotypic habitat, particularly wetlands and uplands, dense vegetation, and habitat type was recorded and shorebirds were identified and recorded to species. Transect was marked (GPS) at the beginning and the end. Transect width was 100m on each side. 3. Ground Surveys: Surveys were conducted in wetlands and uplands, dense veg, or fine patchworks of the two. Habitat type was recorded and each surveyor walked around for 20-30 minutes, radiating outward from the helicopter. All birds seen or heard were recorded. Start and finish times and an estimate of ground covered were recorded. Location where helicopter landed was marked (GPS). ‘Rope drags’ were done at some ground survey locations. The area surrounding a wetland was systematically covered by both observers with a rope with soft trailers dangling from it stretched between them. [Note: There is no standardized selection process for ‘low and slow’ flights or for ground surveys beyond the requirement for wetlands or areas where wetlands and uplands are present in a fine patchwork.] The original data table is available from the Additional Documentation section. Please use with caution.

Additional Documentation

• Metadata Information

  Language: eng; CAN

  Last Update: 2011-12-02

  Metadata Contact:

  Scholars Portal, Ontario Council of University Libraries Toronto Ontario, Canada

  Metadata Standard:

  North American Profile of ISO19115:2003 - Geographic Information

• Citation Information

  
  

  Canadian Wildlife Service Yellowknife North West Territories, Canada

  Jennie Rausch Yellowknife North West Territories, Canada

  Charles Francis

  Jon Bart

  Kyle Elliott

  Vicky Johnston

  Themes or Categories of the Resource: environment

  Keywords:

  Density, Birds, Breeding colonies, Habitats, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Land cover, Wetland, Habitat use, Nesting, Shorebirds, Open data, Ecology, Environment

  Birdwatching, ECOLOGY, BIODIVERSITY

  Environment, Bird migrations, Birds, Ecology

  Place Keywords:

  Continent > North America > Canada

  Purpose:

  The IPY shorebird surveys in the high arctic were designed to accommodate three objectives:

  1. collect ground control point data that will be used to develop habitat classifications that reflect late June habitat conditions.

  2. test the appropriateness of a ‘wetlands plus’ survey approach for high arctic shorebirds, and determine the appropriate width of wetland buffer.

  3. collect habitat data that is useful for the Canada Wetlands Inventory classification.

  Dataset Language: eng

  Status: completed

  Update Frequency: unknown

  Spatial Representation Type: vector

  Extent

  West Longitude: -121.271817

  East Longitude: -105.708233

  North Latitude: 77.355867

  South Latitude: 74.591917

  
  

  Supplemental Information:

  This data collection is part of the International Polar Year (IPY), a large scientific programme focused on the Arctic and the Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009. Specifically, this research is part of the IPY-Federal and IPY-CICAT/ITEX research programs.

• Spatial Representation - Vector

  Geometric Objects:

  Object Type: point

  Object Count: 595

• Reference System Information

  Reference System Identifier

  Value: 4269

  Code Space: http://www.epsg-registry.org/

• Data Quality Information

  Scope Level: dataset

• Distribution Information

  Distributor:

  Polar Data Catalogue (PDC) Waterloo Ontario, Canada

  Distributor:

  Canadian Wildlife Service Yellowknife NWT, Canada