National and regional bird experts gathered in Ann Arbor on March 22 and 23 for the Informing Great Lakes Pelagic Bird Management Workshop. The workshop was planned by the Great Lakes Commission with the help of various partners, in a multi-year effort to monitor and map how and when birds use the open waters of the Great Lakes. The workshop brought planners, managers, and bird experts from across the U.S. and Canada to explore ways to convert pelagic bird data collected over the past three-plus years into a format that can support wildlife and natural resource management decisions across the Great Lakes region. Over 30 participants attended the workshop, representing federal and state agencies, local government, research entities, non-governmental organizations and tribal government.

The workshop was an important step in what is now in the third phase of a multi-year effort let by the GLC: the Monitoring and Mapping of Avian Resources project. At the workshop, researchers who collected the data shared results of their work. Participants also heard about the next steps to integrate that data into the Midwest Avian Data Center, a regional node of the Avian Knowledge Network hosted by the Midwest Coordinated Bird Monitoring Partnership and Point Blue Conservation Science. The project’s modeling team – including experts from Maine, Michigan, Seattle and California – presented their plan for model development and discussed expected products and outcomes. The Canadian Wildlife Service from Environment Canada and The Nature Conservancy also presented work they are doing in the field of avian research. On the second day of the workshop, small groups were presented with management use case studies to test how they might support real life natural resource management decisions. One example is using data to show likely hot spots of bird activity on and over the lakes that might require higher levels of conservation or protection.

These discussions helped presenters understand the challenges of data integration and modeling. Because researchers use different tools and methods, the data must be aggregated so it can be compared on an “apples to apples” basis. Clear observations at the workshop included that better communication can help build consistency among similar research efforts. Collaboration could also be increased with Canadian researchers to integrate their data into the models. And perhaps most obviously: more data will support more robust models, allowing decision-makers a higher level of confidence in their outputs. Beyond aerial surveys used for this project, other options for data collection discussed included drones, telemetry and aerial surveys using cameras instead of observers.

A complete workshop summary will be available shortly. For more information, or to download the workshop summary, please visit https://www.glc.org/projects/habitat/avian-resources/.