John Quinn, a researcher at University of Nebraska Lincoln wrote a timely piece for KQED Quest that relates closely to Audubon California's own Working Lands program. Quinn described the current effort at the University of Nebraska Lincoln to develop a set of habitat indicators for farmers, the Healthy Farm Index. One of the key indicators is the presence of birds.

University of Nebraska Lincoln researchers are focusing their monitoring efforts on songbirds.

The ability to detect birds by sound has spurred our research group to develop resources to aid farmers and other people interested in the songs and calls of farmland birds. As researchers, we use auditory detections of birds as one of our primary monitoring tools. With acoustic recorders, we have recorded the songs and calls of our local bird communities. Back in the lab, we use software to identify and isolate the best songs and calls. These vocalizations have been posted to our website, Farmland Birds of Nebraska, and distributed back to farmers and others interested on CDs. With the acoustic recordings, farmers can select a group of indicator species suitable for their area, learn its call, and listen for the bird while working in the field. This information can be used by the farmer in assessing their own farm or can be shared more broadly with researchers.

Read more from Quinn's piece.

(Tricolored Blackbird photo by Martin Myers)