Atlantic Co-Operative Wildlife Ecology Research Network

THE BIG PICTURE

Foraging, drumming, and nesting structures required by cavity-nesting birds (CNBs) may make them particularly sensitive to industrial forest management. It is important to understand their habitat needs and responses to different management practices. There are four main objectives to this study:

1. Determine whether habitat quality of CNBs is best described by presence or productivity

2. Describe tree characteristics important to foraging woodpeckers and investigate the relationship between the availability of foraging substrates and woodpecker productivity

3. Develop an effective protocol to monitor CNBs on a landscape scale

4. Outline the implications of industrial forest management for CNBs in northwestern New Brunswick

This three-year study is continuing in the industrial forests of northwestern New Brunswick.

RATIONALE

Why foraging?
Typical management plans focus on providing nest sites for CNB, without considering foraging habitat. Nest site availability may not be limiting woodpecker populations in
northeastern North America, thus foraging habitat may be a more important determinant of habitat quality (1,2).

Why productivity?
The presence of an individual does not necessarily mean that it has reproductive success (3). Individuals on territories with higher quality and quantity of foraging habitat may be better able to attract a mate and provision nestlings.

METHODS

Productivity
-systematically sampled 71 points, 8 times during the breeding season
-birds attracted to point using chickadee mobbing (4) and barred owl calls
-reproductive behaviour recorded, and each point ranked for productivity:
0 = not present
1 = present only once
2 = present at least twice and assumed holding a territory
3 = evidence of a pair or nest
4 = fledgling or family group

Foraging
-foraging data recorded separately from mobbing periods
-substrate described by species, decay, diameter at breast height (dbh), broken tops or branches, and percent bark
-sex, age, behaviour, and foraging height recorded for foraging individuals bouts of the same individuals returning to the same tree were excluded from the analyses

Vegetation
-vegetation measured at each point using the quadrat method

STUDY AREAS

->2400 ha of industrial forest owned by Fraser Papers Inc. (clearcuts, plantations, selective cuts, immature, mature, and overmature forest)

-600 ha of unmanaged forest in Mount Carleton Provincial Park








THE BIG PICTURE RATIONALE METHODS STUDY AREA LITERATURE CITED RESEARCH FUNDING Defense Date



THE BIG PICTURE Foraging, drumming, and nesting structures required by cavity-nesting birds (CNBs) may make them particularly sensitive to industrial forest management. It is important to understand their habitat needs and responses to different management practices. There are four main objectives to this study: 1. Determine whether habitat quality of CNBs is best described by presence or productivity 2. Describe tree characteristics important to foraging woodpeckers and investigate the relationship between the availability of foraging substrates and woodpecker productivity 3. Develop an effective protocol to monitor CNBs on a landscape scale 4. Outline the implications of industrial forest management for CNBs in northwestern New Brunswick This three-year study is continuing in the industrial forests of northwestern New Brunswick. RATIONALE Why foraging? Typical management plans focus on providing nest sites for CNB, without considering foraging habitat. Nest site availability may not be limiting woodpecker populations in northeastern North America, thus foraging habitat may be a more important determinant of habitat quality (1,2). Why productivity? The presence of an individual does not necessarily mean that it has reproductive success (3). Individuals on territories with higher quality and quantity of foraging habitat may be better able to attract a mate and provision nestlings. METHODS Productivity -systematically sampled 71 points, 8 times during the breeding season -birds attracted to point using chickadee mobbing (4) and barred owl calls -reproductive behaviour recorded, and each point ranked for productivity: 0 = not present 1 = present only once 2 = present at least twice and assumed holding a territory 3 = evidence of a pair or nest 4 = fledgling or family group Foraging -foraging data recorded separately from mobbing periods -substrate described by species, decay, diameter at breast height (dbh), broken tops or branches, and percent bark -sex, age, behaviour, and foraging height recorded for foraging individuals bouts of the same individuals returning to the same tree were excluded from the analyses Vegetation -vegetation measured at each point using the quadrat method STUDY AREAS ->2400 ha of industrial forest owned by Fraser Papers Inc. (clearcuts, plantations, selective cuts, immature, mature, and overmature forest) -600 ha of unmanaged forest in Mount Carleton Provincial Park

LITERATURE CITED (1) Welsh, C. and D.Capen. 1992. Availability of nesting sites as a limit to woodpecker populations. Forest Ecology and Management 48: 31-41; (2) Gunn, J. and J. Hagan. 2000. Woodpecker abundance and tree use in uneven-aged managed, and unmanaged, forest in northern Maine. Forest Ecology and Management 126: 1-12.; (3) Van Horne B. 1983. Density as a misleading indicator of habitat quality. Journal of Wildlife Management 47: 893-901; (4) Gunn, J., A. Desrochers, M.A. Villard, J. Bourque, and J. Ibarzabal. 2000. Playbacks of mobbing calls of Black-capped Chickadees as a method to estimate reproductive activity of forest birds. Journal of Field Ornithology 71(3): 472-483. RESEARCH FUNDING Fraser Papers Inc., NSERC Defense Date: 17 December 2003