Blog Post 6: Data Collection

*Not sure what happened to the original post.

Field Data Collection Activities

I have only gone out to sample on one day so far and I expect to go out another 2 times. I went to the sample area three different times in the day to make sure the Coots were observed during various daylight hours. Since this is a point count sampling method, I didn’t need to do much activity rather than take photographs and observe from the bench that sits across from the waterway.

Replicates Sampled (not sure why the clarity is so poor)

Problems with Implementation:

One problem is the data was skewed around 12 pm since this is when there was a high population of people who had come to feed the birds. I’m guessing the Coot’s population abundance would have been lower if there hadn’t been excess food to entice them.

Ancillary patterns observed:

The Coots seem to be most active in the morning, by 2 pm there were very few observed at the sample site. There also seems to be a bit of new growth happening with the warming temperatures, so the vegetation density will probably get much higher as the season moves into spring.