2009/12/01 by Jameson F. Chace, Steven D. Faccio, Abraham Chacko · 1 citation
Environmental Science · #Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies #Fire effects on ecosystems #Rangeland and Wildlife Management #Warbler #Geography #Habitat #Ecology #Songbird #Canopy #Population #Forestry #Biology
paper · doi:10.1656/045.016.n401
openalex publication_date 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We examined habitat use by Wilsonia canadensis (Canada Warbler), a migratory songbird population in a 40-year decline. We used a long-term forest bird monitoring program in Vermont to compare the structural components of sites of warbler presence and absence. Habitats occupied included lowland Picea-Abies (spruce-fir), northern hardwood, and Quercus-Carya (oak-hickory) forests, and Acer rubrum-Thuja (Red Maple-cedar) and cedar-fir swamps. Northern hardwood forest detections were explored in greater detail due to the greater extent of coverage in Vermont, the higher number of survey points (n = 80), and high percentage of Canada Warbler detections at those points (29%). Within the northern hardwood forests, warblers occurred in patches with a lower canopy height and higher percent ground cover of shrubs and ferns than patches where warblers were not detected. These three parameters were also the strongest set of competing Akaike's information criterion model scores based on the patch attributes. In the northern hardwoods of the northeast, the conditions of reduced average canopy height and increased ground cover are created naturally by wind throw, ice storms, and insect damage, as well as under some forms of timber management. Canada Warblers appear to prefer these forest structural conditions because they provide abundant foraging strata, conceal nesting sites, and expose song perches.