The wildlife ABCs of 1, 2, 3

I have come to the realisation that humans love to count things. For example, many people love to count birds through citizen science programs such as Project Feederwatch or the Christmas Bird Count.

Other species, such as furbearers, are best counted from the ground during the winter by counting their tracks. Black bears are difficult to count but the development of DNA testing of hair or poop samples, and the wide-scale use of trail cameras, can help establish population estimates.

Counting things, though, can get complicated, especially when it’s a highly valued species. I’m thinking in this case of elk and moose where it’s very rare for everyone to agree with survey results.

And to be honest, this is to be expected, because no matter how surveys are done, there are always animals that go uncounted. Wildlife managers know that the counts they conduct are never 100 per cent accurate, but the hope is that when these surveys are done consistently year after year, the impact of errors is reduced.

This is why managers usually take the data from a single year’s count with a grain of salt, and why they prefer to use a three- or five-year average of the count data, as it evens out the results.

Another way to reduce errors is to try to keep as many of the variables the same from year to year. For example, in Riding Mountain National Park, the surveys, conducted by air, follow routes that have remained the same for decades. The flights are also conducted at the same height and speed, flying about 100 meters above the ground at a constant speed of 100 kilometers per hour.

Even keeping an aerial survey crew the same from one year to the next can help, as an experienced team learns to work together to get the most accurate count possible. In most cases, the crew is made up of the pilot, a data recorder, and two observers in the back. Each observer surveys a width of approximately 300 metres on the left or right side of the aircraft, while the pilot and the recorder, sitting in the front, will count any animals directly in front of the aircraft that the observers might otherwise miss.

Surveys are conducted in the winter, when snow on the ground ensures that dark-bodied elk, moose, and deer all stand out. In RMNP, they are done after the hunting season to ensure that surveying doesn’t impact the hunt, but also to ensure that the survey results account for hunting success.

Despite best efforts, not all the conditions remain the same from year to year. Surveys can be impacted by environmental conditions that you might not expect. Strong winds make it hard to survey as the aircraft bounces around, and hoar frost on the trees can obscure the view.

Sunny conditions creating dark shadows means that some animals are missed, while cloudy weather can make animals “pop” out to the eye, making them easier to count. And very cold weather means that other animals are missed as they retreat to areas under conifers where the overhead cover provides warmth and protection from the wind.

Technological changes have also meant that surveys have changed over the years. Originally, pilots balanced paper copies of maps of the park on their laps, with survey lines drawn in by pencil. The pilot’s role was to follow the survey line using landmarks on the landscape below, a difficult task when the wind was blowing or when the area below lacked notable features.

The observations were marked on a second set of maps by the recorder, sitting beside the pilot. You needed a strong stomach to be constantly looking at the map and data sheet, recording the number of animals spotted by the observers.

In the 1990s, the survey lines were integrated into GPS units. The pilots could now follow the digitized lines with the hope that the batteries would last for the duration of the flight. Laptops were introduced in the late 1990s, and today computer tablets are used to record the species data and location on the Park map.

More recently, surveying by helicopter has become more common. It’s safer, as flying in airplanes is one of the most dangerous activities that biologists engage in. As noted above, surveying requires you to fly relatively low, relatively slow, and can require tight turns, especially if you need to go back to re-count larger groups.

These conditions mean that you need an experienced airplane pilot, one who isn’t willing to take unnecessary risks and knows the terrain well. RMNP was fortunate to be able to call on the services of Patty and Bob Simpson from Dauphin, who more than exemplified these traits. However, other areas aren’t so lucky, and 30 years ago it wasn’t unusual for at least one survey crew to be injured or killed in a plane crash somewhere in North America each year.

What does the future hold? I suspect that aerial surveys will become more automated. Drones are already being used to fly survey routes in some areas. However, these drones aren’t the small, multi-bladed helicopter-like drones that you might be familiar with.

Instead, survey drones are fixed-wing like an airplane and are relatively large. They are able to cover large distances and can carry both normal and thermal-imaging cameras, meaning they are able to detect body heat from animals. The data is reviewed by technicians who have the luxury of time and sitting in a warm office to conduct the count. Even analyzing data will likely be assisted by Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the future.

Like most things in life, the art and science of wildlife surveying has changed. Will future technology make it more accurate? Only time will tell.

» Ken Kingdon lives in the heart of the Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve. Send him a text at 204-848-5020 if you have stories to share.