Yukon High Elevation Monitoring Program (HEMP) - ARU point counts

The High Elevation Monitoring Program (HEMP) - Yukon is a multi-species terrestrial bird monitoring program to support the Boreal Monitoring Strategy and conservation planning of terrestrial birds (landbirds, shorebirds) in southern boreal ecoregions in Yukon. 


The absence of long-term monitoring data from structured (e.g. North American Breeding Bird Survey) and unstructured (e.g. Christmas Bird Count, eBird) monitoring programs in regions characterized by remote, rugged mountains, sparse trail and road access, and small human populations limits efforts to detect distribution shifts and population declines for northern mountain bird species. We used a modified version of the BOSS sampling design and the Boreal Bird Monitoring Program (BBMP) design implemented throughout Yukon ecoregions to create the High Elevation Monitoring Program (HEMP) design. We restricted the sampling frame to (1) mountains in southwest Yukon with a hiking or access trail, and (2) a sampling area of two km total width on each mountain (one km on each side of the hiking/access trail). To conduct sampling across elevational gradients at each of our 10 HEMP mountains and achieve habitat representation and spatial balance, we created an elevational transect by selecting five random sample sites within each habitat zone within the sampling frame (low boreal forest, high boreal forest, subalpine, alpine). The HEMP was designed to facilitate cost-effective, reliable, and safe access for observers hiking in rugged mountain terrain at our 10 HEMP mountains to conduct long-term monitoring of terrestrial birds. In 2019, autonomous recording units (hereafter “ARUs”) were deployed to conduct avian point counts using passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) methods along elevational gradients on 13 mountains across the Yukon Southern Lakes, St. Elias Mountains, Ruby Ranges, Pelly Mountains, and Yukon Stikine Highland ecoregions in Yukon, and the Northern Coastal Mountain ecoregion in British Columbia (pilot program). In 2021, ARUs were deployed along elevational gradients on 12 different mountains across the Yukon Southern Lakes, St. Elias Mountains, Ruby Ranges, Yukon Stikine Highland, and Boreal Mountain and Plateau ecoregions. In 2022 and 2024, ARUs were deployed at ten of these 12 mountains. The ARU locations in 2024 are the finalized locations for future HEMP monitoring in Yukon. The ARUs were set to record ambient sounds for 5 minutes every 15 minutes from 3:00 AM to 8:00 AM in 2019 and from 3:00 AM to 9:00 AM in 2021-2024. A subset of recordings was randomly selected for transcription from each ARU location each year to align with sampling suggestions outlined in Van Wilgenburg et al. (2020). Subset recordings were constrained to 3 minutes for transcription. Bird songs, calls, and non-vocal sounds were identified to species whenever possible to determine the number of individuals per species and time to first detection on each recording. This project provides important baseline data to better understand species distribution and abundance of terrestrial birds in mountain systems in remote northern areas where climate changes are ongoing and human alterations of these ecosystems are anticipated.


This dataset contains data collected with ARU point counts. See the separate dataset record for HEMP human point counts conducted in 2019.


More details are available in downloaded metadata file.


CWS-North DatasetID: 055_6

Organization: Environment and Climate Change Canada | Environnement et Changement climatique Canada