The flute-like track of a Wooden Thrush is likely one of the signature sounds of summer time forests within the Northeast. However that acquainted track is changing into much less widespread as forests develop into more and more fragmented and habitat situations change.
Many forest-dependent birds want a minimal of 200 acres of contiguous forest for appropriate breeding habitat. This creates a chance for landowners massive and small to make choices that assist maintain birds throughout the panorama.
That is the objective of Audubon’s Wooden Thrush Undertaking: serving to landowners and managers perceive what the Wooden Thrush must thrive, and the way native forests that profit this beloved songbird additionally profit a whole group of forest-breeding birds.
At a current day-long program, foresters, land managers, and conservation professionals got here collectively to discover this objective. The coaching was held at Bent of the River Audubon Middle in Southbury, Connecticut, a 700-acre sanctuary with splendid habitat situations.
“I took the coaching with a fellow member of the Hamden Land Conservation Belief right here in Connecticut,” mentioned attendee Craig Repasz. “Now we have small properties lower than 12 acres. The thought of planting and sustaining totally different habitat varieties to create areas essential to the Wooden Thrush’s life cycle is one thing we are going to attempt to implement. Our small patch of shrubs might match right into a higher matrix.”
For Wendolyn Hill, Open Area Coordinator for the City of Lyme, Connecticut, the chance was private. Wooden Thrush can nonetheless be heard in most of the preserves she manages, making the species’ decline much more regarding.
“Studying from consultants concerning the causes to supply range of age class and construction in habitats for the Wooden Thrush, which has had an alarming 60% decline since 1966, conjures up me to use these stewardship practices to the character preserves beneath my administration in Lyme,” Hill mentioned.
All through the day, contributors explored how totally different forest situations assist birds at varied levels of the breeding season.
Shows coated habitat assessments, forest administration methods, and chicken monitoring methods, whereas afternoon subject excursions supplied an opportunity to see these ideas utilized on-the-ground.
Individuals visited mature forest, younger forest habitat, and riparian areas and mentioned how totally different habitat varieties contribute to the wants of Wooden Thrush and different forest birds.
Guilford Land Conservation Belief volunteer Steve Mayo noticed, “If extra volunteers understood the steps required to keep up wholesome forests, then they could possibly be impressed to take motion.” Steve himself was impressed by the mowing methods which introduced over two dozen pairs of Prairie Warblers to nest at Bent of the River. “The outcomes are very rewarding,” he acknowledged.
Conservation efforts that profit Wooden Thrush can even assist species together with the Scarlet Tanager, Cerulean Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, American Woodcock, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Black-billed Cuckoo, Broad-winged Hawk, Prairie Warbler, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
The Wooden Thrush Undertaking is constructing a community of foresters, land managers, conservation organizations, and personal landowners working to enhance habitat for birds throughout Connecticut, New York, and past.
