GREAT BASIN BIRD OBSERVATORY
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Elf Owl Studies – A detect ability study will be conducted on a known population of elf owls that breeds in riparian habitats in order to determine the best protocol to survey for the elf owl.The issue addressed in the proposed work is the need to quantitatively determine the most effective population inventory and monitoring methods of a LCR MSCP-covered species, the Elf Owl. The specific objectives of the proposed study are to:
1) Systematically quantify how a variety of parameters of call-playback surveys affect responses of Elf Owls. Parameters including responsiveness, response distance, decibel levels needed, owl response time, habituation, time of night, and response movements will be investigated.
2) Recommend survey protocols that optimize detectability, number of seasonal surveys, and long-term survey effort for population monitoring based on the findings of the detectability study.
3) Quantify the likelihood of detection if the recommended methods are implemented.