3.3 Birds
• Determine the status and distribution of Swallow-tailed Kite, Mississippi Kite, Yellow-crowned Night-heron, and Anhinga (as well as other colonial nesting waterbirds).
• Conduct surveys in Mountain hardwood forests for Northern Saw-whet Owl.
Monitoring. Long-term monitoring is critical to assessing species and ecosystem health over time and gauging the resilience of organisms to a changing climate. Studies should include identifcation of population trends, as well as assessment of impacts from conser- vation or development activities. Tese eforts will inform species and habitat management decisions. Long-term monitoring sites need to be identifed and monitoring protocols developed for all priority species. Monitoring plans should be coordinated with other exist- ing monitoring programs where feasible.
• Continue support for regular colonial waterbird surveys during the breeding season (currently conducted coast-wide every three years on average).
• Evaluate whether Breeding Bird Survey routes or point counts may need to be estab- lished in selected areas or habitats and more attention paid to the migration period and wintering ecology of birds using early successional habitats. Additional Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship stations could also be benefcial, as well as migra- tion banding stations.
• Monitor Henslow’s Sparrow population and distribution at Voice of America sites in eastern North Carolina to determine population trends.
• Continue annual monitoring of Peregrine Falcon nest clifs to monitor and assess popu- lation status. • Continue long-term monitoring and banding work (currently being done by the USGS) on Eastern Painted Buntings and support the goals and objectives of the Painted Bunting Working Group that involves Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
• Continue long-term monitoring of active Bald Eagle territories, successful breeding pairs, and fedged eagles.
• Continue long-term monitoring of birds that use early successional habitats on game lands, national and state forests, and National Wildlife Refuges.
• Continue montane bird population monitoring (Northern Saw-whet Owl, Brown Creeper, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Cerulean Warbler,
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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