NAOC roundtables announced

[Fern Davies]

Roundtable Discussions

 

Applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones) to Bird Studies
David Bird, Juan Jose Negro
Description to come.

 

Best Practices for Surveying Neotropical Bird Communities
W. Douglas Robinson
Counting birds is challenging, particularly in some Neotropical habitats where species are often quite rare, have restricted times of day or season in which they vocalize (if they vocalize at all), and the density of vegetation obscures our ability to see most birds. We will discuss methods for effectively surveying tropical birds with an emphasis on methods useful for benchmark surveys in this era of rapid environmental change.

 

The Canada Warbler International Conservation Initiative: Integrating Planning and Action on the Breeding and Wintering Grounds
Judith Kennedy, Ted Cheskey
Description to come.

 

Choosing a National Bird for Canada
David Bird
There are movements afoot in Canada to select a national bird as part of the Canada celebrations for its 150th year of existence in 2017. The overall aim of this Round Table Discussion is to discuss the choosing of a national bird for Canada with the following specific objectives to be addressed: 1) Should Canada have a national bird? 2) What should be the criteria for choosing a national bird? 3) Does the gray jay fit those criteria? And 4) Should the gray jay be renamed as the Canada jay? All ornithologists are welcome to join in this discussion.  

 

Creating an Artificial Bird for Use by Aircraft and Engine Manufacturers in Certification Testing
Chris Demers, Les McVey
Description to come.

 

Full Life-Cycle Conservation of Migratory Grassland Birds: Proposal for a Working Group
Jon McCracken, Rosalind Renfrew
This round-table discussion is for researchers and conservation practitioners who work with grassland birds in North America. Our objectives are to a) share updates on current research and conservation on migratory grassland birds, and b) gauge the interest in, and need for, establishing a formal umbrella working group to better coordinate and strengthen efforts and prioritize future directions. Topics to be discussed include how best to tie together current initiatives, how to unite to leverage international will to bring attention to the plight of grassland birds, build  better links between research and conservation and policy development, and explore the best paths forward. 

 

Issues in Collections Management and Museum Science
Carla Cicero, Chris Milensky
Natural history collections offer unique opportunities for students to obtain hands-on training in organismal biology and to get involved in research. Pressing issues in collections management include data quality, complexity, and associated software; social media; destructive sampling; specimen transport; and permitting.

 

Making Her Voice Heard: Increasing Awareness and Documentation of Female Bird Song
Karan Odom, Lauryn Benedict
Bird song research has historically focused on temperate male songbirds, however, recent work shows that female song evolved early in songbird evolutionary history and more and more studies point to its prevalence worldwide. Despite growing interest in female bird song, reports of female song remain relatively sparse because it can be difficult to detect in monomorphic or poorly-studied species. This roundtable aims to improve and facilitate studies of female bird song by identifying methods to increase awareness of and improve consistent documentation of female song among researchers, birders, and citizen scientists.

 

Patterns of Sociality Across the Genus Corvus: Implications for Adaptability, Cognition, Culture and Conservation
Anne Clark, Kevin McGowan
Description to come.

 

Rhythm 2.0: Software and Technology to Support Studies of Avian Incubation
Caren Cooper
Description to come.

 

Synthesizing Science to Inform Conservation of Songbird Migrants Around the Gulf of Mexico
Emily Cohen, Jeffrey Buler
Description to come.

 

USGS Bird Banding Lab Bandit 4.0 Update and Question and Answer Discussion
Matt Rogosky, Elaine Nakash
The U.S. Geological Survey, Bird Banding Lab has released the newest version of its bird banding data submission software, Bandit 4.0. This roundtable is intended to help banders as a Bandit help session. The general format will include a short introductory presentation covering what’s new in this version of Bandit followed by a question-and-answer period.