Once you have learnt how to identify and record bittern, the next steps are assessing and restoring habitat and monitoring bittern to get a baseline population estimate as a measure of your success.
Types of monitoring-
- Passive Monitoring -using acoustic recorders to detect males booming (confirms absence/presence of male bittern)
- Active listening (or triangulation) to detect males booming. This method is used in The Great Matuku-hūrepo Muster. (gives you a population index of individual males, which is used to estimate population. Identifies possible breeding territories)
- Detecting female behaviour and influencing nest success. (as an indication of nest success, to influence species recruitment)
- Monitoring nests and individuals using drone cameras and or thermal drones. (nest success, recruitment)
Resources
- Bittern Booming – Sound files (15min wetland recording or edited version) .
LOVE BITTERN PROJECT 