Since 2019, Portland Audubon has partnered with Clean Water Services to assess the avian bird community at the Portland Community College (PCC) Rock Creek Floodplain site. It’s a collaborative effort that engages local communities and partners and provides educational opportunities for youth.
Utilizing a blend of professional-level surveys and community science eBird surveys, partners and volunteers were able to analyze the spring migration/breeding season of bird communities as well as winter waterbird use of wetland emergent habitat. These surveys play an enormously important role in helping Tree for All partners understand the impact and response of habitat restoration programs on local avian populations.
From 2019-2021, Portland Audubon staff collected expansive data utilizing winter waterfowl surveys and spring point counts, the results of which were then combined with more than one hundred community science eBird surveys. In total, these surveys documented 111 bird species using the site from January 2019 to October 2021, and included a diversity of species from Neotropical migratory songbirds (26 species), waterfowl (12 species), shorebirds (5 species) and raptors/owls (7).
Through this partnership, Portland Audubon has also delivered after-school STEM programming with Adelante Chicas and with PCC-Rock Creek faculty and students.
To learn more about the transformation of Rock Creek Floodplain Enhancement Project, click here.
Photo credit: Mick Thompson
