Bird Study Spring 2023

The bird population and dynamics study is part of the Long-Term Ecological Research program at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest.  The Forest-Wide Bird Survey data include point count and bird observations from 183 sites across the forest, starting in 2009. With these data researchers are learning more about the mechanisms of bird species distributions across the landscape from year to year and even within a season. Findings suggest that old-growth forests may provide a microclimate buffering against climate warming. To fully understand the ability for old-growth forests to buffer birds from climate change, researchers are catching birds and measuring how physiological condition and species interactions shift throughout the microclimatic gradient at HJ Andrews Experimental Forest. This work will give insights on mechanisms of species distributions and implications for their survival in a changing environment.