Oak Ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest - American Bird Conservancy

There are two ways to use bird focal species in the conservation
of oak habitats. First, the specifics of their representative
habitat associations (e.g., canopy cover or shrub
cover, tree size) can be used in the planning process to set
habitat objectives for a site or landscape. Secondly, their
occurrence or density can be used as a metric to track positive
progress of management or restoration towards the
habitat objectives they represent. Although both of these
can be done for individual species, the most ecologically
sound approach is to use a suite of focal species whose
habitat associations capture the range of desired conditions
at a site or across a landscape.
Density Estimates
Bird density estimates (i.e., number of birds per area) can
be an important tool in bird conservation. Firstly, density
estimates for a habitat type provides the opportunity to
calculate an estimate of the population of a species. Secondly,
density estimates used in conjunction with other
information on population trends, historic population
baselines, or desired populations can be used to set population
objectives. Through bird monitoring, a density estimate
can be readily calculated, which can become the
metric used to set the objective or easily converted to a
population estimate as the objective. The use of density
estimates to calculate population estimates and set population
objectives has been done for oak and other habitats
in the Puget Lowlands ecoregion. 30 Some examples
of ecoregional mean density estimates for oak-associated
bird species are provided in Table 4.
Greg Homel, Natural Elements Productions
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Oak Bird Guide • 21