By Lauren Smith, MT Audubon Communications Specialist
The warm and sunny days of Spring are fast approaching, and with that comes the familiar “cur-leeee” call of the Long-billed Curlew, and Montana Audubon’s citizen science surveys of these charismatic shorebirds.
The Long-billed Curlew depends on Montana’s grasslands for breeding, and continues to decline across its range due to loss of this habitat to development of agriculture and infrastructure. With this decline, more research is needed to assess the health and conservation needs of the population, meaning we need your help surveying across the Mission, Helena, and Blackfoot Valleys. Survey efforts for Long-billed Curlew began in 2012, and since then these surveys have not only tracked curlews, but have also tracked land use changes in these three valleys.
The surveys consist of 10 predetermined survey points along a driving (or biking, if you’re feeling adventurous) route. Each point requires five minutes of looking and listening for Long-billed Curlews and other nearby birds.
Two survey windows are available for citizen scientists to participate in this unique effort: April 8 – May 7 and May 8 – May 31. Virtual training for the surveys will take place on March 25 at 7pm over Zoom, where we will go over the species background, identification, survey protocol, and data collection, along with any questions! The training will be recorded and available on the Montana Audubon YouTube page.
Interested in participating? Fill out our survey interest form here! [link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe-E99DBEVnAFq3HEhk0WVEVWLc12T2WeeNNjwcMm6mPoWPTQ/viewform]
Email questions to Gwynne at gwynne@mtaudubon.org or visit our citizen science website (https://montanabirdsurveys.weebly.com/long-billed-curlew.html) for more information!