Abiotic Variables
During each point count, we collected abiotic information within a 50 m
buffer of the point count site. We collected temperature and wind speed
using Kestrel 3500 weather meters (Nielsen-Kellerman Company, PA, USA).
We also recorded wind as a categorical variable (0-3). Additionally, we
recorded percent canopy, understory (vegetation ~30cm in
height), shrub, tundra, snow, and rock cover and the percentage of the
ground covered with dead trees. Deciduous trees were more common in the
canopy in Chile than in BC. Canopy cover values in Chile therefore
increased with leaf-out during the season while values in BC were
static.
For each ARU count we also scored wind on the Beaufort scale (0 – 3)
based on its interference with the audio recording.