User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
The most challenging part of implementing my sampling strategy was spacing my sampling sites appropriately so they maintained independence. Although I would have liked to have included more sampling sites, it was not feasible given the limited area of the shrub habitat type. This has also made randomization challenging, although I have introduced it by randomizing which site is sampled first during each survey round. So far, the data I have collected has not been overly surprising. Bird species which are more associated with forest habitat, such as Townsend’s warbler (Setophaga townsendii) and red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), have not been recorded within the shrub habitat sampling sites. I plan to continue collecting my data using the breeding bird point count methodology.
