April 30, 2025, Planning Board Special Meeting Transcript - WEHI

21 of 48 sheets Page 81 to 84 of 116 05/12/2025 02:23:28 PM 81 another hour almost 90 minutes of that I only added an1 additional six or seven species. So the reason for that2 is because the birds are abundant. Every time I went to3 another site I saw more of the same species I was4 counting but I was counting the same species again and5 again, seeing lots of different species and what this6 pattern suggests is given the fact that there's still an7 increase here whereas I continue to survey I detected8 more and more species it does suggest in an extensive9 study the line continued to go up and more and more10 species would be detected over time. That's what you11 would expect when you sample something out in space like12 that on a landscape, especially something that fly's13 around like birds. So I for sure didn't max out what14 could be there, if I stood at those points longer I15 surely would have been observing more species.16 This is just a summary table or summary slide to17 make sure all the components in my study are tracking18 one thing.19 I want to mention among the 20 species there's 1420 different families of birds. So in taxonomy or21 ornithology relatedness is nested so closely related22 species are either taxonomy or ornithology are next to23 each other distant from, further apart, in this case 1424 different families of birds. The whole family, like all25 82 the woodpeckers are in the same family. You have the1 sparrows that are in the same family. The corvidae, the2 crows, those are all in the same family. So seeing 143 different families really tells you there's very4 different kinds of birds and within some of those5 families there's multiple species. So within a parody6 woodchuck, chickadees, with the woodpeckers I saw or7 observed three species, flicker, hairy woodpecker and8 red-bellied woodpecker.9 The fourth woodpecker --10 MR. AFRAN: Could I just suggest Professor11 Butler talk a little slower.12 THE WITNESS: Oh, sure.13 MR. AFRAN: It'll help the court reporter.14 Okay.15 Let me think more slowly. This is like a16 A. lecture, right. Do you want me to go back to anything?17 CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: No, you're good.18 THE WITNESS: Thank you.19 So I had prefaced I was going to make a20 A. prediction on what kinds of birds I think would probably21 be there, because I have only a small sample, I was only22 there for about two hours and I saw a few

had prefaced I was going to make a20 A. prediction on what kinds of birds I think would probably21 be there, because I have only a small sample, I was only22 there for about two hours and I saw a few things and as23 I said I was not able to go inside to sample. But one24 of the kinds of, I don't know rules or laws in this type25 83 of biology is species tend to occur in association. Or1 assemblance. So for example, when I got there, stepped2 out of the car I first saw a red-bellied woodpecker or3 flicker woodpecker or a hairy woodpecker, because if you4 find a red-bellied woodpecker and you're looking at a5 forest you're probably going to find these other species6 because they tend to co-occur. So that's sort of an7 example I have on the screen here where I did see the8 six species in the lower left. I didn't see the species9 on the right. I didn't hear them, I didn't see them but10 I know that, I have absolutely no doubt they're in the11 area, in the woods. I don't need to see them because12 I've already seen the six other species that are nearly13 always associated with those two other species. So14 based on what I saw, both in terms of the bird life and15 the habitat I saw and also I looked at the eBird16 reports, some of you birders you're probably familiar17 with eBird. EBird is actually a curated data base18 that's user generated where people report their bird19 sightings, but it's monitored by Cornell Lab and they're20 trying to make sure the data is clean and people don't21 report flamingos or something. I know this for a fact22 because I received a couple e-mails myself saying, are23 you sure you saw that. And I want to point to my24 signature, you see who I am. Just kidding, I would not25 84 do that, but I get them myself, they question me, did I1 really see that. So I looked at those four surrounding2 parcels of land that are there, I think the Highland3 Preserve or Reserve and there's Eagle Bluff, or Eagle4 Rock. So those two areas are somewhat comparable in5 terms of size and they have around 100, 170 species, but6 also water sources. So they're going to have a lot of7 ducks and water birds that aren't at this site. So just8 based on what I saw, what I saw in terms of habitat in9 terms of bird life what's likely to be at a sight this10 big in this location, I think at least 100 different11 species of birds that are found on this site that

aw, what I saw in terms of habitat in9 terms of bird life what's likely to be at a sight this10 big in this location, I think at least 100 different11 species of birds that are found on this site that also12 varies on an annual basis. So if you're going into June13 you'll get among the maximum number of species at the14 same time. If you go out when I went out, you know,15 you're somewhere in between the lows of the winter and16 the highs of the summer. But I think it's very likely17 that at least a hundred species of birds could be found18 on this parcel with enough study. And looking into the19 size of the parcel and the amount of interior forest20 that's there, I also think it's very likely that a21 handful at least of what I consider interior bird22 species, so they're species that are effected by the23 ecological factor processes Dr. DeVito described, I24 think, at least these species and probably several more25