Concern for the status of the wildlife resources of an area makes it incumbent upon citizens to monitor the populations of all forms of fauna and flora in their area on a regular basis using a standard protocol to acquire data. In 1991 Stephen J. Stedman and Barbara H. Stedman initiated the Summer Roadside Survey (and its winter counterpart, the Winter Roadside Survey) to monitor bird populations in Putnam County, Tennessee. They adapted the protocol of Partners in Flight (an umbrella organization dedicated to maintaining healthy populations of birds in the Americas) to conduct this survey, and they continued this survey in 1996, 2001, and 2006. The resulting data may be accessed via links at the bottom of this page.
For an overview of the methodology used to collect roadside data about the birds of Putnam County, click on this item:
The regions of the county covered by the WRS/SRS are noted in the following table and depicted in a map available at this link:
Table 1. Regions of Putnam County in relation to elevation and number of SRS stops.
| Region | Elevation | Number of SRS Stops in Region |
| CB = Central Basin | 500-700 feet | 50 Stops (10% of total) |
| WE = Western Escarpment | 700-900 feet | 50 Stops (10% of total) |
| HR = Highland Rim | 900-1200 feet | 250 Stops (50% of total) |
| EE = Eastern Escarpment | 1200-1800 feet | 50 Stops (10% of total) |
| CP = Cumberland Plateau | 1600-2100 feet | 100 Stops (20% of total) |
The data in the following table provide an estimate of the relative species richness of each of the regions of the county, with the escarpments generally hosting a less diverse bird fauna than the Basin, Rim, and Plateau. However, the escarpment bird communities, while less diverse than those of the other regions of the county, are rich in Neotropical migrants, as a review of the data for the various species of the county will reveal, making the escarpments perhaps the most ornithologically valuable regions of the county.
Table 2. Species Totals Registered during 500-Stop Summer Roadside Surveys in Putnam County during 1991, 1996, 2001, and 2006.
| Year | CB | WE | HR | EE | CP | County |
| 1991 | 72 | 57 | 90 | 54 | 79 | 101 |
| 1996 | 71 | 63 | 94 | 64 | 87 | 101 |
| 2001 | 73 | 60 | 90 | 69 | 87 | 103 |
| 2006 | 73 | 61 | 89 | 65 | 86 | 105 |
To view detailed results of the SRS in Putnam County for any of the 112 species registered during the four surveys conducted, click on one of the links below:
