maximum numbers could be observed. This biased observations in 

 favor of the more open habitat and vegetation types. Observations 

 were also recorded during vehicular surveys and while walking 

 through the study areas. At each observation vegetation type, 

 activity, type of terrain, slope, exposure and time of day 

 were recorded (Appendix Table 1). Examples of various vegetation 

 types are shown in Apoendix Figures 1-14. Pertinent population data 

 were also recorded. Each observation was assigned a grid coordinate 

 number to determine distribution patterns and for future reference. 



Game Birds 



The primary emphasis was directed towards locating sharp-tailed 

 grouse dancing grounds and sage grouse strutting grounds. The 

 importance of these breeding grounds to these species cannot 

 be understated. These grounds were found by driving, listening 

 and looking from the ground and by flying low over likely 

 terrain features and either seeing the birds on their arenas or 

 flushing them into the air. 



Pheasant crow count routes were conducted during the spring 

 breeding season to determine the density of cock pheasants 

 (Kimball 1949). 



Ponds, sloughs, and creeks were visited during the spring and 

 summer months to obtain waterfowl observations. 



Songbirds 



Species composition, relative abundance, and breeding densities 

 of songbirds were determined using a strip-census method suggested 

 by Hickey and Mikol (1979) for use in coal mine baseline 

 studies. Two 100 m wide, 2500 m long strips were established in 

 each of the four main habitats found in the study areas (grassland, 

 sagebrush, ponderosa pine-juniper forest, deciduous tree riparian). 

 Songbirds were mapped along each strip five times during the 

 breeding season (early May - early July) in 1979 and three times 

 in 1980. Two methods were used to estimate breeding bird densities 

 as described by Hickey and Mikol (1979). The first method 

 uses the sum of the average number per census run of singing 

 (territorial) males of each species. This method may underestimate 

 the number of birds for two reasons: 1) late migrants such as 

 western wood pewees may not have been present during the earlier 

 census runs; 2) some birds are silent and therefore undetected 

 during some census runs. The second method, called the summation 

 method, uses the sum of the highest counts of singing males for 

 each species. This method may overestimate the number of birds 

 during periods when migrants (which often sing) are present 

 along with residents. It may underestimate the number of birds 

 in most cases, since it is unlikely that all the resident males 

 along a strip will be detected in one census run. 



A species list was compiled for each study area. Nomenclature 

 follows the A.O.U. checklist (1957) and Supplements (1973,1976). 



