Sierra Nevada Network Landbird Monitoring Data Package, 2011-2024

This data package contains Sierra Nevada Network (SIEN) Inventory and Monitoring Program landbirds tabular data collected during 2011-2024 at Yosemite National Park (YOSE), Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park (SEKI), and Devils Postpile National Monument (DEPO).

The protocol, publications, and all other associated links can be found in the project reference at: Bird Monitoring Protocol for National Parks in the Sierra Nevada Network: https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2124954

National parks in SIEN can fulfill vital roles as refuges for bird species dependent on late-successional forest conditions and as reference sites for assessing the effects of land-use and land-cover changes on bird populations throughout the larger Sierra Nevada region. These changes may result from regional processes such as land conversion and forest management, or from broader-scale phenomena such as global climate change. Monitoring population trends at ‘control’ sites in national parks is especially important because the parks are among the few sites in the United States where population trends resulting from large-scale regional or global change patterns are relatively unaffected by local changes in land use. Long-term monitoring of landbirds throughout SIEN provides information that can inform decisions about important management issues in the parks, including visitor impacts, fire management, and the effects of introduced species.

Landbirds are critical food-chain links, eating millions of seeds and insects and in turn, are prey for other creatures. Because they have specific needs for food, nest sites, and habitats they are easily impacted by change. For these reasons, birds are among the most sensitive indicators of ecosystem health and counting them is one of the most efficient ways to take the ecological pulse of an area.

Surveys were conducted in two large wilderness parks: Yosemite (YOSE) and Sequoia and Kings Canyon (SEKI) National Parks, and in one small park: Devils Postpile National Monument (DEPO).

Objectives are to 1) detect trends in the density of as many landbird species (including passerines, near-passerines, and galliformes) as possible throughout accessible areas of three SIEN parks during the breeding season and 2) track changes in the breeding season distribution of landbird species throughout accessible areas of SIEN parks.