Western and Clark's Grebe Nesting Survey

The Aechmophorus Grebe Working Group is a collaborative effort between multiple federal, state, and provincial agencies, NGO’s, and volunteer groups whose goal is to further the monitoring and research of Western and Clark’s Grebes across their range. As part of that mission, the working group has developed this survey to assess grebe breeding and productivity at the landscape scale. This layer hold data for the Western and Clark's Grebe Nesting Survey. The goal of this survey is to determine if Western and/or Clark’s grebes are 1) nesting at a given water body and 2) if they are producing chicks at a given water body. The results of these surveys will hopefully provide a better understanding of the status of Western and Clark breeding activities as well as potentially identify population sources and sinks. Data collection scheduled for 2025-2030 breeding season; data processing will occur each subsequent Fall-Winter. This layer contains the following fields: Date/Observer(s) 1. Date/time (automatic): Note: Please change the data/time if you are not entering data during the field survey. 2. Observer(s): enter name Location Information 1. State/Province: select from list; can enter new state/province 2. Water body or management area: * Select from list based on Grebe BreedingAtlas ([https://thecdil.github.io/grebe-lakes/]) * If not listed, enter a new location if nest colony location 3. Location of grebes or nesting colony (spatial coordinates) * Defaults to observer location * If the point needs to be moved, click on a new location on the map that approximates the center of the nest colony (note: clicking and dragging the default point does not move the point) * If no grebes or grebe nests are present, move the point to the center of the search area * Or enter latitude/longitude of grebes/nests 4. How did you access the area: select from list 5. Site type: unmanaged wetland, managed wetland, lake, reservoir, or river Grebe Data 1. Were grebes observed? yes or no 2. Were grebe nests observed? yes or no 3. If yes to nests: * What is the dominant vegetation (select from list) * What is the condition of the nests? (select from list) * What is the estimated nest abundance (select from list) 4. Were grebe-lings (chicks) observed? yes or no 5. If yes to chicks, what age classes were observed? (select from list) 6. If no to chicks, is there evidence of nest colony failure? yes or no 7. If yes to evidence of colony failure, select what evidence of nest failure was observed. Hydrologic Data 1. Are water levels recorded at this nesting colony site? Yes, no, or unknown 2. Select the hydrograph that best resembles the general trend in water level fluctuation at your waterbody during the breeding season. (select from images) Disturbance Information 1. Is there chronic disturbance the affects the nesting colony? Yes or no 2. If yes, what type(s) of disturbance is present? (select from list) Additional Comments 1. Additional Comments: enter additional information about the nest colony For more detailed survey instructions, datasets, and supporting documents please visit: ([https://iris.fws.gov/APPS/ServCat/Reference/Profile/178611]). For more information about the working group or this survey, please contact Deo Lachman; deo_lachman@fws.gov.