Assessing Bird Populations in a Wildfire Disturbed Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana) Barrens

Abstract

Differences in forest structure can play a large role in dictating habitat use for many bird species. In the northeastern United States, unique habitats nested within dominant northern hardwood forest provide habitat diversity and house otherwise nonexistent or rare species. The Altona Flat Rock, in northeastern New York, is a globally rare ecosystem dominated by fire-dependent Pinus banksiana (Jack Pine, Lamb.). Over the past century, wildfires have burned various extents of the Flat Rock, creating a mosaic of stand ages intermixed with unburned northern hardwood forest. The first chapter of this study sought to understand how bird communities differ based on 1) forest type (pine barren versus northern hardwood); 2) forest successional stage within the pine barrens; and 3) time (year of sampling). In spring 2023, I surveyed bird communities across two different aged Jack Pine stands that originated following wildfires in 1957 and 2018, and the surrounding hardwood forest. I also compared the data collected in this study to two historical datasets collected at the same sites in 1978 and 1992 to investigate bird community change over time, which yielded similar results. Results suggest that Jack Pine habitat within the landscape is important for maintaining unique species and landscape-level diversity. The second objective of this study was to understand how a specific species of concern, the Eastern Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus), is using the Flat Rock area. By GPS tagging individuals, I was able to gain information about the habitat use of whip-poor-wills at the site, specifically during foraging hours during their breeding season. I was also able to compare habitat use over time with canopy closure. Results suggested that whip-poor-wills have more generalist habitat requirements at the Flat Rock than at other sites in their range, likely due to the more boreal forest type as well as abundant food and habitat resources.