Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Ovenbirds Take to Forest Fragments


“And comes that other fall we name the fall.
He says the highway dust is over all.
The bird would cease and be as other birds
But that he knows in singing not to sing.
The question that he frames in all but words
Is what to make of a diminished thing.”
                --Robert Frost, The Oven Bird

Ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapilla) are LBB’s (little brown birds) that are seen foraging for food on the forest floor across Canada and the eastern United States. While their breeding range is in the northern United States, they overwinter in the southern U.S. and Mexico. Ovenbirds breed and nest in older deciduous or evergreen forests and are rarely found in urban environments. Except for suburban landscapes.

In a paper entitled “Forest Fragmentation Effects on Ovenbird Populations in the Urban Region of Eastern Massachusetts, USA” published in Urban Habitats (2012), authors Morimoto, Frankel, Hersek and Wasserman found that large residential lots with forest cover can effectively serve as nesting habitat for these forest birds. The study notes that forest cover greater than 40% and small woodlots close to larger tracts of forest with high connectivity reduces edge predators such as cowbirds, which often plague the ovenbird’s nests.


The study concludes that “urbanization accounts for the majority of developed land in many areas in the Northeast (e.g., Steel 1999). Given this trend, it is of critical importance to recognize the value of the remaining forested habitats in these regions and to manage these landscapes in ways that will maximize their benefits to natural communities and species of interest. We recommend that municipal leaders, land managers, and planners take account of geographic location and regional landscape context when interpreting and then applying results of scientific studies to the management and conservation of viable bird populations in urban regions and elsewhere" (Morimoto, Frankel, Hersek, and Wasserman 2012). 

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