Preparing for TASL censuses

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What is TASL?

Take a Second Look (TASL) was started in the spring of 1979 by a local (Boston) group of environmentally concerned birdwatchers; since winter of 1980 our primary focus has been to survey and census the bird population of Boston Harbor throughout the year, although the winter water bird censuses have been our major activity.

The initial scheme was to use five parties to census water birds from Nahant to Hull four times per winter. Initially we covered November, February, March and April. A December census was left to the Christmas Count. The January count was skipped because we understood that the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&WS) does a mid-winter waterfowl census all across the country.

The question of how to avoid double-counting of flocks by two different parties was solved by Leif Robinson, who was also the originator of the name Take a Second Look (TASL).

Over the years it has been necessary to modify the census scheme as follows:

The five initial routes have been divided and subdivided, so that now we are fielding ten separate census parties in order to keep the total number of hours/party afield reasonable.

Continent wide mid-winter waterfowl censuses are performed by the state agencies in charge of wildlife (e.g., Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife) and compiled by the USF&WS . Most censusing is done from the air. However, around Boston Harbor, particularly in the vicinity of Logan Airport, no small plane flights were possible. Dubious as numbers obtained from the air might be, the Boston numbers obtained by one observer during a ground-based sampling run simply were going to overlook a lot of birds. So we found that a January TASL count was necessary.
(As it turns out, the Massachusetts wildlife biologist in charge of the mid-winter censuses, Mr Heusman, now routinely requests our numbers for the January count. See H. Heusman email.)

From 1985 to 1988 we only censused in January.

In fall of 1988 we went back to the multi-census program. Maury scheduled 9 censuses that winter!

As of 2013, we are censusing Boston Harbor water birds only once per season, in January.

Maury Hall, wildlife biologist with Massachusetts Audubon Society (MAS), asked me in summer of 1988 if we would like TASL censuses to be part of the larger Harbor monitoring project of MAS. I welcomed the suggestion. The MAS involvement pulled in large numbers of volunteers. Maury subsequently left MAS to work for Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) as wildlife biologist and field researcher, and stayed on as census coordinator and data compiler for TASL.

Join in

We really need the old-timers—the route leaders—to continue the TASL census tradition. I hope that newcomers will enjoy going with the old-timers and will learn the old routes so that in case of need we have one (or even two!) back-up crews.

This is an excellent opportunity to learn—and teach—about the common water birds of the Harbor. You do not have to be an expert to participate. Each area will be led by at least one competent birder. That person will need help with navigation, driving and record-keeping. So make yourselves useful and learn something in the process.

Newcomers: If you're interested in joining the census, please call or write at least a week in advance.

Route leaders: We will provide you with printed material, if you've forgotten your route. (Some of the routes are already on the web site in both html and pdf format. Data sheets are avilable in pdf or excel format. Check it out.)

History of TASL News

From 1980 to 1984, Craig Jackson and I, with the help of a number of folks, most notably Jim Barton, Leif Robinson and Janet Heywood, produced and mailed TASL News, containing census results, census schedules and articles about harbor related subjects—mostly bird stuff. A small grant and third-class mailing permit from Bird Observer magazine covered expenses for a while.

From 1985 to 1990 an annual letter was sent out to route leaders to remind them of the schedule.

Starting in 1991 one or more issues per year of TASL News went out again.

By 1996 I had begun to cut back on printing and mailing costs by sending most TASL communications via email. Census data was posted on the TASL web site, which I maintained. Since 1998 I have not managed to get a single issue of TASL News printed on paper!

In 1996 TASL received a grant from the Nuttal Ornithological Club. The money was used to help defray costs of printing TASL News, as well as pay for time spent by Maury Hall on data analysis. The early season (mostly November) census results for the first 18 years of TASL were fully compiled and broken down by Maury. (See "Early Winter TASL Censuses: A Summary of Results 1980-1997".) More recently Maury has compiled additional data for early winter and mid winter.

Useful urls, email addresses and phone numbers

Mail census results to:	Maury Hall 661 East 5th St. South Boston, MA 02127, USA home phone: 617-268-7571 email: m47hall@hotmail.com

Send inquiries to:	Soheil Zendeh 42 Baker Ave Lexington, MA 02421, USA home phone: 781-863-2392 email: sohzendeh@gmail.com

last updated: 2015.01.09
url: http://032acf2.netsolhost.com/tpreparing.htm