Data Management Plan (Deprecated)

This data set contains sensitive biological resource data for wading birds, shorebirds, waterfowl, raptors, diving birds, seabirds, passerine birds, and gulls and terns in North Carolina. Vector polygons in this data set represent bird nesting, migratory staging, wintering sites, and general use areas. Species-specific abundance, seasonality, status, life history, and source information are stored in associated data tables (described below) designed to be used in conjunction with this spatial data layer. This data set is a portion of the ESI data for North Carolina. As a whole, the ESI data characterize the marine and coastal environments and wildlife by their sensitivity to spilled oil, and include information for three main components: shoreline habitats, sensitive biological resources, and human-use resources. See also the BIRDSPT (Bird Points) data layer for additional bird information.

This reflects the extent of all land and water features included in the overall North Carolina ESI study region. The bounding box for this particular feature class may vary depending on occurrences identified and mapped.

Process Steps:

• 2016-11-01 00:00:00 - Bird species in this feature class are included either because of their likelihood of direct or indirect impact by an oil spill or similar incident, their general rarity or imperilment, or their special protection status as threatened or endangered. Migratory or wintering concentration areas, nesting sites and colonies, and protected species are especially emphasized. Bird concentration areas depicted in this atlas are described for various groups of birds below.
• 2016-11-01 00:00:00 - Colonial waterbirds, shorebirds, and wading birds: Nesting locations for terns, gulls, shorebirds, egrets, and herons were mapped using digital polygon data obtained from North Carolina Natural Heritage Program (NC NHP) and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NC WRC). Concentration values were generalized when presented for a range of dates (10-25, or 100s, 1000s, etc.) or left blank when not available. Migratory and overwintering hotspot locations of terns and shorebirds (specifically piping plover - federally and state endangered, and red knots - federally threatened, and Wilson's plover - state conservation concern) were mapped using survey data provided by NC Audubon, NC NHP, NC WRC, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and expert opinion. Concentration values, when presented, represent ranges or generalized values.
• 2016-11-01 00:00:00 - Marsh obligate species: Salt and freshwater marshes are ranked as highly sensitive to oiling due to their biological productivity and the tendency for oil to persist based on low relative exposure to wind/wave energy and the difficulties associated with human cleanup activities. Marshes are extremely valuable for a suite of bird species in the region including rails, bitterns, and marsh obligate passerines, and should be prioritized for protection wherever they exist. Due to the difficulties of surveying in these areas, and in an effort to highlight specific known nesting occurrences, we only mapped nesting locations from NC NHP and NC WRC nesting survey data. General distributions based on habitat associations were not mapped as they have been in the past. Therefore, an absence of a polygon in a region does not mean a species will not be present in the event of a spill.
• 2016-11-01 00:00:00 - Waterfowl: The large bays, estuaries and fringing wetland habitat that characterize coastal North Carolina support large numbers of wintering and migrating waterfowl. Similar to most states along the Atlantic Flyway, North Carolina collects yearly aerial survey data in mid-winter to identify the habitats needed to support these large influxes of waterfowl. Mid-winter aerial survey data from 2011-2015 was provided by NC WRC and used in this update. Based on consultation with resource experts, winter waterfowl distributions were mapped to the predefined unit boundaries themselves rather than interpolating species/unit counts to suitable habitat within each unit. In an effort to reduce complexity and place an emphasis on the overall number of individuals utilizing a particular region, we chose to only map species that contained 100 or more individuals per survey area. Counts of species that did not meet this threshold within a surveyed area were aggregated together and displayed as wintering "waterfowl". This method reduces clutter on the map while still placing an emphasis on the regions providing critical over-wintering waterfowl habitat. Concentration values, when populated, indicate a generalized maximum yearly count for that species and unit (100s, 1,000s, 10,000s, etc.). Additional areas providing critical foraging habitat and refuge areas for migrating and wintering waterfowl were mapped using data from the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture - Waterfowl Implementation Plan, North Carolina Gameland designations, and expert knowledge. Generalized nesting locations for resident waterfowl species were obtained from expert knowledge. Similar to other marsh obligate nesting birds, the difficult nature of surveying in marsh habitat resulted in nesting waterfowl distributions in the area to be underrepresented. Resident populations of waterfowl depend heavily on salt and freshwater marshes (American black duck, blue-winged teal and gadwall) and freshwater swamps and surrounding upland forests (wood duck) for breeding and therefore could be present within this habitat during the spring and summer breeding months. For the purposes of this feature class, typical nesting habitat within survey units expected to hold the largest aggregations of nesting waterfowl were selected and mapped as "GENERAL DISTRIBUTION" polygons with the breeding months indicated in the seasonal presence attributes.
• 2016-11-01 00:00:00 - Raptors: Nesting locations for bald eagles (state threatened), osprey, and northern harriers were mapped using data from the NC NHP. Wintering locations and migratory stopover concentrations for the aforementioned species as well as peregrine falcons and short-eared owls were also mapped using data from NC NHP.
• 2016-11-01 00:00:00 - Seabirds: No pelagic seabirds nest within the AOI but certain species use the offshore region depicted within the atlas. The Gulf Stream waters travel close to the coast of North Carolina off the tip of Cape Hatteras. As stated in the North Carolina Important Bird Area (NC IBA) report, this area "has the greatest diversity of seabirds and marine mammals in the southeastern Unites States." In addition to the diversity supported in the offshore regions of North Carolina, the NC IBA report also stresses that this region may support a globally significant proportion of black-capped and Bermuda petrels. High use seabird areas depicted in this atlas were mapped primarily using data from these NC IBA designations. Although a few areas are depicted as having higher than average densities of seabirds, all offshore waters in North Carolina will support some level of seabirds and sea ducks in all months of the year and should be considered highly sensitive to oil spills.
• 2016-11-01 00:00:00 - Rare, threatened and endangered passerines: Nesting location of rare, threatened or endangered passerines were included as polygons even when hydrographically removed from large waterbodies in an effort to make this regional update more usable in an all-hazards context. These data were obtained from the NC NHP database. These species are not generally thought of as at risk from an oil spill itself but their listing status should be taken into consideration when conducting cleanup operations in the vicinity of known nesting locations.
• 2016-11-01 00:00:00 - See the Lineage section for additional information on the type of source data for this data layer. The ESI, biology, and human-use data are compiled into the standard ESI digital data format. A second set of interviews with participating resource experts are conducted to review the compiled data. If necessary, edits to the BIRDS data layer are made based on the recommendations of the resource experts and digital data are created.

Data can be accessed by downloading the zipped ArcGIS geodatabase from the Download URL (see Distribution Information). Questions can be directed to the ESI Program Manager (Point Of Contact).