Partners in Flight Databases
Partners in Flight Databases
In 1991, Partners In Flight (PIF) began developing a formal species assessment process that could provide consistent, scientific evaluations of conservation status across all bird species in North America and identify areas most important to the conservation of each species. This process evaluates complex biological data on the population size, distribution, population trend, threats, and regional abundance of individual bird species to generate simple numerical scores that rank each species in terms of its biological vulnerability and regional status. The species assessment scores and other assessment data are available through the PIF Species Assessment Database and can be used to examine and compare the conservation status of individual bird species, either globally or within a particular geographic area.
Estimates of population size are one of the factors used to assess overall conservation vulnerability, with species having smaller global populations being more vulnerable than species with larger populations. The PIF Landbird Population Estimates Database provides population estimates for North American landbirds at continental and regional scales. These estimates may serve as the first step in setting quantitative conservation objectives within states or Bird Conservation Regions and are an important component of conservation design.
The PIF Species Assessment Database and PIF Landbird Population Estimates Database are maintained by Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory.