The Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William & Mary still needs volunteers to adopt Nightjar Survey routes in Loudoun County. The first survey window closed May 28th but the second window is June 10-June 26.
Nightjars include the Whip-poor-will and Chuck-will’s-widow – some pretty cool but secretive birds.
The Nightjar Survey Network relies on volunteer participation by conservation-minded citizens, biologists, and other like-minded groups to adopt and conduct survey routes. Nightjar Surveys are easy to perform and take about two hours to complete.
Volunteers conduct roadside counts at night, during specific time windows when the moon is > 50 % illuminated, by driving and stopping at 10 points along a predetermined 9-mile route. At each point, without using audio lures, the observer counts all Nightjars seen or heard during a 6-minute period. Visit the United States Nightjar Survey Website for more details including location of routes, instructions, and results; www.ccb-wm.org/nightjars.htm. At this time the only active route in Loudoun County runs from Clarks Gap to Taylorstown and was surveyed by Joe Coleman and Laura Weidner last year. LWC would like to develop three additional routes in the county – if you think you might be interested in helping with a new route or take over the Taylorstown route, please let Mike Wilson know (mdwils@wm.edu) or contact Joe Coleman at jcoleman@loudounwildife.org or 540-554-2542.