Project Description:
The presence and absence of birds can inform us about changing ecosystems. Birds are especially good indicators of habitat quality – both the number of birds present, and the assemblage of bird species in an area. When forest habitat changes, often the types of birds present will change in predictable ways. In the wee hours of June 4th, 2016, five bird enthusiasts set out to better understand the avian species at OPDF to help inform our forest management goals.
Matt Miller and Clare Robinson (OPDF Board and Education Committee members) were joined by experienced birders Donna Crossland (Parks Canada), Chris Pepper (NS Bird Society) and Kate Steele (NS Bird Society). Donna shared a Forest Bird Monitoring Protocol designed for Parks Canada and helped us establish six monitoring sites. Point count surveys of 10 minute duration were conducted in three habitat types (i.e. hardwood drumlin, lowland softwood, softwood ridge).
The bird count revealed that OPDF is home to many North American migrant songbirds – even a couple of species at risk: the endangered Canada warbler and the threatened Olive-sided flycatcher. Broad goals for our bird monitoring project at OPDF include: compilation of a habitat-specific baseline inventory of forest songbirds occurring there, description of temporal changes in relation to local and landscape habitat, and contribution to the understanding of population trends for forest birds in Nova Scotia. Migration-related data help shed light on larger issues such as climate change. Monitoring programs in Nova Scotia typically occur in mostly mature, undisturbed forest. This program offers the opportunity to study trends in a forest undergoing uneven-aged management, where timber production is compatible with the protection of a full range of other forest values and services.
To view the bird count data collected, click here or see the document below.
The presence and absence of birds can inform us about changing ecosystems. Birds are especially good indicators of habitat quality – both the number of birds present, and the assemblage of bird species in an area. When forest habitat changes, often the types of birds present will change in predictable ways. In the wee hours of June 4th, 2016, five bird enthusiasts set out to better understand the avian species at OPDF to help inform our forest management goals.
Matt Miller and Clare Robinson (OPDF Board and Education Committee members) were joined by experienced birders Donna Crossland (Parks Canada), Chris Pepper (NS Bird Society) and Kate Steele (NS Bird Society). Donna shared a Forest Bird Monitoring Protocol designed for Parks Canada and helped us establish six monitoring sites. Point count surveys of 10 minute duration were conducted in three habitat types (i.e. hardwood drumlin, lowland softwood, softwood ridge).
The bird count revealed that OPDF is home to many North American migrant songbirds – even a couple of species at risk: the endangered Canada warbler and the threatened Olive-sided flycatcher. Broad goals for our bird monitoring project at OPDF include: compilation of a habitat-specific baseline inventory of forest songbirds occurring there, description of temporal changes in relation to local and landscape habitat, and contribution to the understanding of population trends for forest birds in Nova Scotia. Migration-related data help shed light on larger issues such as climate change. Monitoring programs in Nova Scotia typically occur in mostly mature, undisturbed forest. This program offers the opportunity to study trends in a forest undergoing uneven-aged management, where timber production is compatible with the protection of a full range of other forest values and services.
To view the bird count data collected, click here or see the document below.
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Photo credit: Dan Hutt
| Bird Count Survey Data |