Avian Communities Assoc with Cen. Appalachian Forests Enrolled in NRCS's Working Lands for Wildlife

Presentation Title: Avian Communities Associated with Central Appalachian Forests Enrolled in NRCS's Working Lands for Wildlife Partnership


Presenter: Cameron Fiss


Synopsis: Understanding how conservation programs that focus on single-species habitat implementation affect other species is important for conveying how such efforts contribute to community-scale conservation.

We quantified avian communities in regenerating forests on private lands enrolled in the Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS) Working lands For Wildlife (WLFW): Golden-winged Warbler Partnership and comparable habitat management on public lands.

Specifically, we conducted 960 point counts and completed vegetation surveys at 480 locations (n=288 private, n=192 public) across MD/NJ/PA from 2015-2018. We detected 153 bird species with 134 occurring on private lands and 121 on public lands. Private lands managed under WLFW hosted slightly higher species diversity (H': 2.41 ± 0.02) compared to nearby public lands undergoing similar management scenarios (H': 2.32 ± 0.01).

Of the 20 most common species detected on surveys, about half are experiencing long-term population declines. Additionally, the most common species detected represent a mix of guilds including both early successional breeding birds (e.g., Field Sparrow [Spizella pusilla], Eastern Towhee [Pipilo erythrophthalmus]) and mature forest breeding birds (e.g., Scarlet Tanager [Piranga olivacea], Ovenbird [Seiurus aurocapilla]).

On private lands enrolled in WLFW, annual Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) naïve occupancy ranged from 6.6% to 11.7%. Further, Eastern Towhee occurred on 83.4% - 88.7% of sites, Field Sparrow occurred on 37.7% - 43.4% of sites, Scarlet Tanager occurred on 46.2% - 48.8% of sites, and Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) occurred on 13.7% - 20.4% of sites.

Our results not only indicate the importance of private lands forest management for Golden-winged Warbler, but also highlight the ability of single-species management on private lands to provide much needed habitat for the broader community of declining forest songbirds.