A land manager's guide to conserving habitat for forest birds in ...

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Ovenbird — Photo: Marie Read “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” Maya Angelou 14
Male Chestnut-sided Warbler — Photo: Brandon Holden FOREST BIRDS IN ONTARIO Well-concealed Chestnut-sided Warbler nest in shrub — Photo: OMNR In order to develop an understanding of the factors that affect songbirds on their breeding grounds we must first gain some appreciation of their life cycle and basic habitat needs. Migration Southern Ontario forests are home to nearly 100 species of breeding birds. One-third (33 percent) of these are resident birds like the Black-capped Chickadee and Downy Woodpecker, seen year round. The rest are migrants that breed and raise their young in Ontario during the summer, and spend the winter in more southern locations. Some migrants travel short distances (southern United States) to their wintering grounds, while others travel up to 10,000 km to the Neotropics (Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean). Migrant songbirds typically start arriving on the breeding grounds in southern Ontario in early May, though the timing varies by species. Generally, older males will arrive first, then younger males, followed by older females, and finally the young females. These birds will have a few short months to nest—the success of their populations hinging on how many young they will be able to successfully fledge from their nests each year. Depending on the species, each pair will attempt to raise one or two families (broods), usually of two to five young. This is no small task for most songbirds breeding in forest fragments of southern Ontario, as they face a myriad of challenges, including nest predation, nest parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds (see below), and food limitations, all of which can have a strong impact on their ability to successfully raise their young. Despite this long list of challenges, by migrating from one place to another, birds have evolved a way to take advantage of food and shelter that is scarce in certain geographic areas at particular times. Habitats on the wintering grounds (like the Caribbean) offer feeding opportunities that are not available during the winter on the breeding grounds (like southern Ontario) when freezing temperatures eliminate insects and other food resources. Habitats on the breeding grounds provide high insect populations, long days, and breeding opportunities with less competition, compared with the wintering grounds where migrants have to compete with residents and their preferred food sources become scarce. In the end, it pays for migrants to make the effort to relocate north to woodlots in southern Ontario each spring to breed, where they can raise more offspring than if they had remained on their wintering grounds to compete with resident birds breeding there. Breeding Biology Each species has a unique nesting strategy. Some, called cup nesters, build nests like those of the American Robin, with sticks, leaves, plant fibres, strips of bark, mud, spider webs, or animal hair. These cup nesters will place well concealed nests on the ground, in shrubs or small saplings, or high in the canopy, depending on the species and habitat. Others, called cavity nesters, build nests in tree holes. Cavity nesters are divided into two groups: primary cavity nesters, like the Pileated Woodpecker, which dig out their own hole; and secondary cavity nesters, like the Great Crested Flycatcher, which use existing cavities (often made by primary cavity nesters, but include natural tree holes) for their nest. Once a nest is constructed, birds will lay one egg a day until Pileated Woodpecker cavity — Photo: OMNR Forest Birds in Ontario 15
Page 1 and 2: Ministry of Natural Resources A lan
Page 3 and 4: A land manager’s guide to conserv
Page 5 and 6: Male Scarlet Tananger — Photo: Je
Page 7 and 8: Photo: Algonquin Museum INTRODUCTIO
Page 9 and 10: Southern Ontario has a landscape ty
Page 11 and 12: Gray tree frog — Photo: Scott Gil
Page 13 and 14: Researcher removing bird from net
Page 15 and 16: Sugar maples — Photo: Robert McCa
Page 17: of other wildlife including America
Page 21 and 22: Female American Redstart — Photo:
Page 23 and 24: Male Black-throated Blue Warbler
Page 25 and 26: Male American Redstart — Photo: G
Page 27 and 28: Artwork: Peter Burke Forest Birds i
Page 29 and 30: Flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds —
Page 31 and 32: Photo: Scott Gillingwater Source an
Page 33 and 34: Imagery produced by the Provincial
Page 35 and 36: destroy nests, and lawns that provi
Page 37 and 38: Northern Cardinal — Photo: Daniel
Page 39 and 40: Photo: Larry Watkins FOREST HARVEST
Page 41 and 42: Tree species Additional Carolinian
Page 43 and 44: Photo: Lucas Foerster normally perf
Page 45 and 46: Logging damage — Photo: Lucas Foe
Page 47 and 48: This table illustrates the structur
Page 49 and 50: Conifer plantation — Photo: Ken E
Page 51 and 52: Silvicultural system or method Clea
Page 53 and 54: Female Pileated Woodpecker —Photo
Page 55 and 56: Hairy Woodpecker Northern Flicker P
Page 57 and 58: Louisiana Warbler Mourning Warbler
Page 59 and 60: Elderberry — Photo: Robert McCaw
Page 61 and 62: Male Northern Flicker in cavity wit
Page 63 and 64: Cedar Waxwings Mourning cloak butte
Page 65 and 66: Photo: Doug Tozer GUIDELINES FOR FO
Page 67 and 68: Barred Owl — Photo: Dan Kaiser Ol
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Redwoods —Photo: Jarrid Spicer so
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Photo: Lucas Foerster 6. Retain cav
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Types of Cavity Trees escape or roo
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9. Limit timing of harvesting activ
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Blackberry — Photo: Robert McCaw
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that are similar to the historic va
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Great Crested Flycatcher — Photo:
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hazards, harvest during winter on f
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potential. In these cases, the mana
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Male Blue-winged Warbler — Photo:
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Trembling aspen — Photo: Robert M
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M. C. Brittingham and S. A. Temple.
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Glossary of Terms abiotic — non-l
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conk — hard bracket or shelf fung
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ground cover — the layer of veget
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nurse crop — any tree, shrub, or
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site preparation — chemical (e.g.
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Chestnut-sided Warbler — Photo: B
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Diet The Ruffed Grouse diet is comp
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Red-headed Woodpecker Melanerpes er
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Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicu
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Hairy Woodpecker Picoides villosus
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Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pilea
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Acadian Flycatcher Empidonax viresc
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Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus 19 m
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Black-capped Chickadee Poecile atri
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Brown Creeper Certhia americana The
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Wood Thrush Hylocichla mustelina Di
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Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis
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Golden-winged Warbler Vermivora chr
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Cerulean Warbler Dendroica cerulea
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Ovenbird Seiurus aurocapilla In Ont
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Hooded Warbler Wilsonia citrina Fem
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Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardin
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Indigo Bunting Passerina cyanea Fem
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List of Photographers Al Woodliffe
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