U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Grant for Golden-winged Warbler Conservation and Research at Cornell University

Specific Description of Work:

For Objective 1:
Conduct Golden-winged Warbler surveys in 6 eastern States, following the spatially-balanced sampling design and field survey protocol established for the Golden-winged Warbler Conservation Initiatives breeding season monitoring program. The anticipated number of surveys to be conducted by state is as follows:

In western Maryland, survey 30 points in 3 atlas quads and hopefully explore new areas that could potentially support GWWAs.

In North Carolina, survey 50 points throughout the state at 10 different sites.

In Pennsylvania, survey 140 points across 28 DeLorme Atlas quadrants

In Tennessee, survey 45 points in the Cumberland Mountains and 5 points in adjacent southern Virginia.

In West Virginia, survey 115 points in a total of 23 atlas quads throughout the state.

For Objective 2:
Coordinate and conduct GWWA wintering grounds surveys in three or four of the countries in Central and South America in which surveys have been previously carried out (Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Panama, and Costa Rica). These surveys will be designed to focus on specific sites that have been identified as key places from which additional knowledge of distribution and habitat is still required on wintering GWWAs, or where gaps in the surveys have been identified. All GWWA surveys will follow the established GWWA Wintering Ground Survey protocols that were developed by the GWWA Working Group in consultation with Richard Chandler and used in all previous years’ surveys. As in previous years, all occurrence data will be entered into the Priority Migrant eBird database. These data will assure that all distribution models and all planning are carried out using the best information available.

For Objective 3:
Complete an analysis of all recent winter survey data (collected since 2011), and produce an updated predictive GWWA occurrence model using all historic and new data collected through the project. These results will identify habitat and locations for on-the-ground GWWA conservation actions, and to allow conservationists to focus their efforts on the key sites for these conservation actions. We will produce a list and/or map of focal areas for GWWA conservation in the wintering grounds based on the predictive model and expert input from partners.