This dataset is a subset of data attributes selected from the (full) 1966-2019 North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) dataset to assist in populating the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's FWSpecies application. This subset data was used to add species occurrence information to species lists for each refuge in the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho). The full dataset can be accessed online through ScienceBase. And this metadata leaves most metadata fields untouched from the original, except to add details related to additional processing to make a refuge specific subset, for a specific purpose (populating species lists/occurrences on refuges). All questions regarding the BBS data itself should go to USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.

The 1966-2019 North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) dataset contains avian point count data for more than 700 North American bird taxa (species, races, and unidentified species groupings). These data are collected annually during the breeding season, primarily in June, along thousands of randomly established roadside survey routes in the United States and Canada. Routes are roughly 24.5 miles (39.2 km) long with counting locations placed at approximately half-mile (800-m) intervals, for a total of 50 stops. At each stop, a citizen scientist highly skilled in avian identification conducts a 3-minute point count, recording every bird seen or heard within a quarter-mile (400-m) radius. Surveys begin 30 minutes before local sunrise and take approximately 5 hours to complete. Routes are sampled once per year, with the total number of routes sampled per year growing over time; just over 500 routes were sampled in 1966, while in recent decades approximately 3000 routes have been sampled annually. In addition to avian count data, this dataset also contains survey date, survey start and end times, start and end weather conditions, a unique observer identification number, route identification information, and route location information including country, state, and BCR, as well as geographic coordinates of route start point, and an indicator of run data quality.