Unknown Unknown The Maryland Marshbird Censuses were conducted between 1990 and 1992 to provide baseline data about the distribution and relative abundance of marshbirds within Maryland’s Coastal Plain. The effort supplemented information gathered by the Maryland Breeding Bird Atlas (1984-1989). A team of three expert surveyors conducted point counts using tape playback of 9 species specific audio sequences to elicit responses from the targeted species of marshbirds. The 1990-1992 Maryland marshbird project was designed to: develop a technique to survey the breeding marshbirds in Maryland using tape playback methodology, determine the optimum time during the dusk to dawn period for surveying marshbirds, determine the optimum period during the breeding season for surveying breeding marshbirds in Maryland, determine environmental factors that affect calling response of marshbirds to broadcast vocalizations, document the distribution and relative abundance of marshbird breeding populations in Maryland’s tidal wetlands, and establish base line marshbird population indices for future assessment of relative population changes. 19900425 19920722 ground condition Complete None planned The eastern portion of the state of Maryland, including sites in the following Coastal Plain counties: Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Caroline, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Harford, Kent, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s, Saint Mary’s, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico, Worcester None monitoring None waterbird None population trend None point count None survey None bird None marshbird None Mid-Atlantic None Maryland None spring None breeding season None summer None multiple species birds American Ornithologists' Union 1998 Seventh book http://www.aou.org/checklist/index.php3 The check-list is revised and updated on an annual basis by the American Ornithologists' Union. Revisions are published in The Auk. Observers have pre-existing knowledge of bird identification or they use published field guides. Birds. Selected marshbird species including: Pied-billed Grebe, Least Bittern, American Bittern, King Rail, Clapper Rail, Virginia Rail, Sora, Black Rail, Common Moorhen A number of other species of birds (from a range of families) were included as well as incidental observations. Kingdom Animalia animals Phylum Chordata chordates Subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates Class Aves birds Yes. Although most records are not considered sensitive or classified, access to locations of Black Rail (Laterallus jamaicensis) should be restricted since site locations of this species are sensitive and should not be released to the public. All other data can be publicly available, although records that pertain to species on the state rare, threatened, and endangered list may also require some level of access restriction. None Funding was provided by the citizens of Maryland through the Chesapeake Bay and Endangered Species Fund. Access to land units under their control was provided by the U. S. Army, U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service, National Park Service and Maryland National Capitol Park and Planning Commission. Database: Microsoft Access, Version 2002 SP-1 Tango, P. J., G. D. Therres, D. F. Brinker, M. O’Brien, E. A. T. Blom and H. W. Wierenga. 1997 Final report, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Grant # 14-48-0009-95-1280. Wildlife & Heritage Division, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Annapolis, MD 21401. Brinker, D. F., and G. D. Therres, P. J. Tango, M. O’Brien. E. A. T. Blom and H. W. Wierenga. 2002 Maryland Birdlife 59:3-17. Field data sheets were key punched by contractual data entry clerks. Data entry QC consisted of a simultaneous page by page check of entered data by two individuals. Key punch errors were corrected as necessary. Outlier detection and accuracy assessment matrices have not been applied to the data set. All original data sheets are retained within files of the Maryland Natural Heritage Program and can be inspected for verification of field data. Nothing has been excluded. No process steps have been described for this data set Unknown Yes, latitude and longitude. During 1990-1992 points were plotted in the field on paper USGS topographic maps. Coordinates were later measured in UTM before final conversion to latitude and longitude.. The location of each survey point was recorded on paper copies of USGS topographic maps while in the field. During 1992 the coordinate pairs for each survey point were measured in UTM from the field maps and entered into a database. Coordinate pairs were subsequently imported into an Arc View 3.2 based GIS. During 2005-2006 a subset of points were ground-truthed using handheld GPS units accurate to +/- 3 meters (WAAS corrected). During 2008, electronic plots of all points were compared to the original paper field maps and lat/longs corrected when necessary. 20070111 Jim Lowe Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology mailing and physical

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Ithaca NY 14850 USA 607-254-2413 JDL6@cornell.edu E-Mail is preferred FGDC Biological Data Profile of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata FGDC-STD-001.1-1999