Aerial Raptor Nest Survey

  • Conducted an aerial raptor nesting survey of the U.S. Forest Service- managed Little Missouri National Grasslands.
  • Grassland area consists of approximately 1.02 million acres of rolling hills and rugged badlands in western North Dakota.
  • Evaluated over 400 previously documented and newly-discovered nest sites during the fixed-wing aircraft survey.
  • Previously documented nest sites were mapped in ArcGIS and downloaded into a GPS which was used to navigate to each nest site.
  • GPS used to collect spatial data of any newly-discovered nests.
  • ArcGIS used during the survey to verify each nest site location.
  • Data collected during the survey entered into a database and attributed to each nest site within ArcGIS.
  • Data collected during the survey included nest type, nesting species, nest condition, nest activity, nest site description, field photographs, and GPS locations.

Client: University of North Dakota