Abstract:

Because birds are important indicators of biodiversity, and useful for Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA), scientists have monitored the abundance, richness and distribution of bird species for >100 years throughout the world. In this paper, we reviewed the history and status of land bird monitoring, particularly some well-known long-term monitoring programs such as the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) in the UK, and the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and Christmas Bird Count (CBC) in North America. We also evaluated the status of large-scale bird monitoring programs in China, and propose a monitoring program called the Chinese Breeding Bird Survey (Chinese BBS) based on methodology of BBS in the UK. We suggest the following: (1) the Chinese BBS could initially be administered by relevant government departments with support from academia, with responsibility gradually transitioned to non-government organizations to implement the monitoring scheme and organize professionals, amateurs and volunteers to conduct field surveys; (2) survey squares could be randomly selected after stratification by volunteer density, and surveyed for birds using line and point transect surveys; (3) the results of all bird surveys should be recorded using a standard data format and could be edited and submitted via the Internet through a system named the Chinese BBS information sharing platform; (4) relevant governmental departments and academic organizations should actively promote the development of local bird watching societies, and implement the Chinese BBS with support from volunteer surveyors.

Key words: monitoring land birds, cases of bird monitoring schemes, the Chinese Breeding Bird Survey