Hawaiian Islands Hawaiian Forest Bird Surveys (HFBS) bird counts and vegetation maps 1976-1983

In 1976-1983, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted systematic surveys of forest birds and plant communities on all of the main Hawaiian Islands as part of the Hawaiian Forest Bird Surveys (HFBS; Scott et al. 1986). Results of this monumental effort have guided conservation efforts and provided the basis for many plant and bird recovery plans and land acquisition decisions in Hawaii during the past several decades. This data release (DR) contains both the bird survey data (species, counts, type of count, and distance) and the vegetation maps of upland bird habitat for four of the major Hawaiian Islands. Forest birds were surveyed using point-transect distance sampling methods as described in Scott et al. (1986) from points spaced roughly 134 m apart along transects generally 3 to 5 km apart during eight-minute counts (or six-minute counts on Mauna Kea). Vegetation patterns were initially mapped on black-and-white aerial photographs taken by the USGS in 1976-1977 using a Leitz MS-27 mirror stereoscope, and then compiled into preliminary composite overlays on orthophoto quad sheets, eventually being transformed into digital Geographic Information System (GIS) layers. Vegetation map classes were based on tree canopy cover, canopy height, dominant tree species composition, species association type, dominant understory species composition, and other pertinent information (Jacobi 1989). The bird data can be visualized on an associated RShiny app: https://rconnect.chs.usgs.gov/HFBMD_public/.

References:
Scott, J.M., S. Mountainspring, F.L. Ramsey, and C.B. Kepler. 1986. Forest bird communities of the Hawaiian Islands: their dynamics, ecology, and conservation. Studies in Avian Biology 9:1-431.

Jacobi, James D. Technical Report 68: Vegetation Maps of the Upland Plant Communities on the Islands of Hawai'i, Maui, Moloka'i, and Lana'i. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and University of Hawai, 1989.