In order to guide the conservation efforts in the right direction, it is necessary to conduct bird surveys by professional environmental engineers.

1. Birds Survey - a Great Method to Know Population Size of the Birds
Usually, bird surveys are undertaken to estimate the population of the birds. Apart from these there are
number of reasons that can be the driving forces to undertake birds survey. Following are some of the
reasons:
•Being the owner of any nature reserve, there may be the need to know the population of the
birds
•A need to have baseline information for an area or species which not very well known
•In order to carry out an analysis if the proposed development is an impediment to the natural
land
Full justice to bird surveys can be executed by professional environmental engineers who can use various
methodologies such as Common Bird Census (CBC) and Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and Wetland Bird
Survey. All these surveys basically answer the following questions:
•Which types of species are there?
•How many of them live there?
•Is there any change in numbers of species?
Talking about one of the major techniques of birds survey used in U.K. - the common birds census - it
was a volunteer fieldwork project initiated by British Trust of Ornithology during almost forty years
between 1962 and 2000. The project was funded by Joint Nature Conservation Committee and its main
task was to monitor trends in the UK populations of common breeding birds. However, this major
function is now passed to the BTO/RSPB/JNCC Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). CBC basically aimed at
intense data-collection strategy which was based on mapping territories of breeding birds. This method
was a great success and resulted in immensely beneficial data allowing the national population trends to
be assessed. The information obtained from such survey reveals the population sizes of individual species
and how those sizes can be used to decide the priorities in terms of conservation efforts. Such information
then sets the efforts of conservation in the right direction. Also, the smaller the population size, the greater
the chances are of its extinction locally, regionally and globally. Also, such bird surveys can be useful as
they guide the environmental engineers in terms of what is the population of the birds in relation to
different habitats, and thereby allow them to assess habitat associations.
The Breeding Birds Survey is an annual survey and a very simple technique that does not require
environmental engineers to walk the total survey area. The walk of selected 1-km is enough and therefore
it is ideal for huge terrains. Once the data is collected by the ecologists, it is analyzed by a specialist
statistician. It is ideal to use specialist distance software to calculate densities and population sizes. It is
advised that this method of birds survey should start between 6 and 7 a.m. and not later than 9 a.m. The
survey requires three visits - one is April to establish the terrain route and map the presence of the
inhabitants, second and third visits would be in May and June with an aim to collect the survey data. Each
visit involves the slow walk on the first selected terrain and all the birds seen along the route are noted in
ratio of per 200 meters length of the terrain. Also, the survey calls for noting the birds’ relative distance
from the terrain.