Guide to OSMP Raptor Monitoring Form

OSMP staff created this guide as a reference to assist you in correctly filling out the online Volunteer Raptor Monitoring Form, which was developed by OSMP staff in 2016. Red asterisks in the form indicate required fields. The submitted form fields will be emailed automatically to your monitoring area group.

The form is split into two sections of questions:

1. Site Visit Information
   This section requests information pertaining to your visit and should only be noted once per visit. These include date, observer name, weather, monitoring area, total volunteer time, “notes for other group members”, and “issues that require a ranger’s attention”.
2. Nesting Status / Observed Behavior of Focal Species
   This section requests information pertaining to your observations of your Family Unit of your Focal Species. Usually, there is only one Focal Species / Family Unit per nesting site. However, if there are two Focal Species nesting at the same site, which has occurred at the Third Flatiron and Mickey Mouse Wall, then two “Nesting Status” sections should be populated—one for each Focal Species observed. The online form will automatically provide two “Nesting Status” sections for the appropriate monitoring areas. Below is a description of each “question” asked in the form.

Monitor Name: pick your name from the drop down list

Secondary Monitor Name: pick second monitor’s name, if applicable

Date: date of observation

Observation Began: time when your observation began

Observation Ended: time when your observation ended (24-hour time)

Total Volunteer Time: total time including observation, hike, and any time you spent filling out the online form

Weather Index*: on a scale from 0-6;

Temperature: average temperature during observation (in Fahrenheit).

Wind Speed Index*: from Beaufort Wind Scale;

*Record weather and wind index to represent the majority of your observation

Weather Comments: any additional comments about weather, i.e. drastic change in weather during monitoring time

Monitoring Area: Choose site from dropdown list (i.e. Third Flatiron, Shadow Canyon, etc.)

Notes for other group members: include notes for other group members (i.e. information on icy trails, notable raptor behavior, etc.)

Issues Needing Ranger Follow Up: note whether a sign needs repair or replacement, a fence is down, or other issues that may require Ranger attention. If you see someone in the closure, please note it here but also immediately call non-emergency dispatch (303-441-3333) outside of normal business hours or the OSMP office (303- 441-3440) during normal business hours. If something requires attention, put “NEEDS RANGER ATTENTION” in the subject line of an email to the group. This will help expedite an OSMP response if one is needed.

Focal Species detected: Record the Focal Species detected during your observation using the 4 letter codes at the bottom of the datasheet. Detections may be by sight or sound. Record “none” here if you did not see your focal raptor. Your focal raptor will depend on your monitoring area.

Occupied territory? (Y/N/UNK): Evidence that a territory is occupied can be based on observation of two adults of your focal raptor species that appear to be paired, observations of courtship, or one or more adults engaged in territorial defense, nest affinity, or other reproductive-related activity (i.e., presence of nestlings or fledglings, incubating adult, copulation, etc.). In the early part of the season, observers should be looking for focal adults engaged in territorial displays or courtship, including: 1) undulating flights or aerial talon grasps near the nesting site; 2) re-arranging sticks in the nest or delivering sticks to the nest; 3) fresh pine/fir boughs in the nest (for golden eagles). These examples provide evidence that a territory is occupied by the Focal Species. You may record “unknown” to this question if you did not see adult birds during your observation, but you or other volunteers had observed territorial behavior during previous monitoring visits to this site, or your observation was seriously affected by weather conditions, or if you are unsure of the site’s status.

Observation of Copulation? (Y/N/UNK): Indicate whether you observed copulation from your focal pair. This will help us assess territory occupancy. If you observe courtship, please include notes to this effect in your narrative and consider the territory “Occupied”.

Incubating adult? (Y/N/UNK): Indicate whether you observed an adult in the incubating posture OR whether you observed adult behavior indicative of incubation (i.e., nest exchange). A nest exchange occurs when one adult flies into the nest while the other adult departs the nest. It is usually accompanied by considerable amounts of vocalizing in falcons, but is commonly performed silently by eagles. Obtaining a view into the falcon nest (aka “scrape”) is usually difficult, so you may determine that the birds are incubating based solely on this type of behavior.

Nest ID: Unique identifier for each nest location. Once a nest location is selected, staff will distribute identifiers for use by volunteers. Until then, “Unknown” will be the option available for this line.

Focal Pair Detection

We are only interested here in recording your observations of your Family Unit of your Focal Species. Your Family Unit should include your Focal Pair and their offspring. If you observe raptors other than your Family Unit during your monitoring visit, please record these observations in questions #2 or #3 or both (see below).

Finally, if you saw or heard a member of your Focal Unit but could not identify it as an adult or a fledgling, please capture that information here.

Note: for sites where more than one focal species is observed at the same monitoring area (Mickey, 3rd Flatiron), please fill out the second “Nesting Status” section for the second species—this will help clearly separate the activity for each species.

• Number of FS adults detected: Note the number of adults of your Focal Species that you detected during your monitoring visit. Adults that you detect but are not part of your Family Unit should be mentioned in the notes (either question 2 or 3 or both).
• Number of FS sub-adults detected: Note the number of sub-adults of your Focal Species that you detected during your monitoring visit. This is most important for the bald and golden eagle monitoring areas as sub-adults occasionally are observed in the adults’ nesting territory during the early part of the breeding season.
• Number of FS nestlings detected: Note the number of nestlings of your Focal Species that you detected during your monitoring visit. A nestling is offspring that is in the nest and unable to fly.
• Number of FS fledglings detected: Note the number of fledglings of your Focal Species that you detected during your monitoring visit. A fledgling is an offspring that can fly. Sometimes these birds are easy to detect because they are poor fliers and they make lots of noise, other times they are difficult to detect because they sit still unless food is delivered.
• Total # of individuals of Focal Species (FS) detected: Note the total number of individuals of your Focal Species detected during your monitoring visit. Detections can be by sight or sound. The Focal Species will depend on your site.

Behavioral Observations

1. Did you observe any disturbance to the nesting pair or their offspring: Indicate whether you believe the bird was distressed or disturbed during your visit. If you observe someone in the closure, describe the situation here and in the “Issues needing Ranger follow up” section, and include this information in an email. Please also call and report the closure to non-emergency dispatch. Potential stressors may include humans (including you), airplanes, helicopters, other birds, etc. If the birds show signs of distress due to your presence (i.e., repeated vocalizations, flying over you continually, flapping tips of wings instead of full wing flaps while flying over you, etc.), leave the area immediately and contact staff.
2. Provide a brief summary of your observation: Provide a brief summary of your observations. Record notable behaviors observed here such as a prey delivery, copulation, feeding of young, nest exchange (where male or female relieves their partner of duties at the nest), reactions to disturbances, territorial displays, etc. If you detect raptors other than your Family Unit, please note here how many birds you saw of which species.
3. Did the Focal Pair interact with individuals of the same or other species: Indicate whether your Focal Species interacted with other individuals, including raptors, crows, or ravens. This is important is assessing competition for the nesting site.
4. Chronological narrative of all observations and activity: This is an opportunity to include a lengthier narrative of your observations in this section with the time of observation (in 24-hour time).

Photos: Optional - upload any photos you would like to share with the group.