The general trend across the sample scenarios combined with environmental factors we evaluated was that a trade-off exists between accuracy and precision of abundance estimates derived from point-count method. Sample scenarios with many sample units of small area (i.e., 24,1) provided estimates that were con- sistently closer to true abundance than sample scenarios with few sample units of large area (i.e., 2,12). However, sample scenarios with few sample units of large area (i.e., 2,12) provided more pre- cise abundance estimates with smaller widths of 95% confidence intervals than abundance estimates derived from sample scenarios with many sample units of small area (i.e., 24,1). Although mini- mal variation of parameters describing accuracy and precision of abundance estimates occurred between true abundance and dis- tribution of individuals, the same general trends remained across sample scenarios. Thus, sample design must be carefully considered as it influences accuracy and precision of abundance estimates. This is important to note because sample design is a factor that is within the ecologist’s control, whereas environmental factors are not. It is also important for ecologists to first identify research objectives, and then structure sample design to accomplish those objectives.