{"id":65143,"date":"2009-11-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-researcher-finds-forest-birds-commuting-to-attract-mates\/"},"modified":"2009-11-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-11-05T00:00:00","slug":"uri-researcher-finds-forest-birds-commuting-to-attract-mates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2009\/11\/uri-researcher-finds-forest-birds-commuting-to-attract-mates\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 researcher finds forest birds \u2018commuting\u2019 to attract mates"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tAnalysis of habitat use could lead to better forest management practices<\/p>\n


\n\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 November 5, 2009 \u2013 An ecologist at the 溏心vlog免费B站 studying habitat use by a forest-dwelling game bird found that the birds unexpectedly exhibited what he described as \u201cthe bar scene phenomenon\u201d \u2013 spending most of their time feeding and resting in one habitat and then \u201ccommuting\u201d to a very different habitat to engage in courtship.<\/p>\n


\n\tScott McWilliams, a 溏心vlog免费B站 professor of natural resources science, said that the woodcocks he and his colleagues studied at the Great Swamp Management Area in southern Rhode Island made use of clearings in the forest to perform their courtship flight, but they then flew to more wooded or swampy areas for the rest of the day.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThe forest cutting that is done on a routine basis to provide habitat for the woodcocks is clearly important for courting birds, but many of the birds are commuting elsewhere to feed,\u201d McWilliams said. \u201cMaybe the clearings are good for courting but they don\u2019t provide the earthworm eateries that the birds need for feeding. It appears that we may want to manage the forest in multiple ways to provide appropriate habitat to satisfy all of the birds\u2019 needs.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tBrian Tefft, a wildlife biologist for the state of Rhode Island and a partner in the research project, has been cutting 10-20 acres of the forest at the Great Swamp about every five years to create habitat for the woodcock and other species of wildlife that prefer early successional forest habitat that results as the forest begins to grow back in succeeding years. McWilliams, Tefft and several students have tracked the birds\u2019 use of the parcels in each of the last two breeding seasons. It is in these forest openings that they observed woodcocks exhibiting their elaborate courtship flight, circling high in the sky and then plummeting to the ground in a series of zigzags.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cClearly they need these open, cut areas for courting because their displays are designed to be seen by potential mates,\u201d said McWilliams. \u201cThe open areas are also good for avoiding some predators.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThe new growth that follows the forest clearing also provides an increasingly rare habitat for a wide variety of declining species, including the New England cottontail, ruffed grouse, and numerous songbirds like golden-winged warblers, eastern towhees and field sparrows.<\/p>\n


\n\tMcWilliams, Tefft and 溏心vlog免费B站 colleagues Peter August, Thomas Husband and William Buffum are now expanding the woodcock research project to other locations in Rhode Island and collaborating with biologists in other states in an effort to learn how best to manage forests for these species. The researchers are beginning by surveying other lands throughout the region that have been managed in a similar way. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThis will give us a historical perspective so we can understand what forest management practices have been done in the past and what steps have been successful in creating ideal habitat for woodcock,\u201d said McWilliams.<\/p>\n


\nThe biologists will then track woodcock year-round to learn more about their breeding success and their health on their wintering grounds. Their results can then be compared with the results from other biologists in the Northeast who are using the same protocol to study the birds in their regions.<\/p>\n


\nThe research is being funded by a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the McIntyre-Stennis Act, which supports research about the forested landscape. The program will also include various outreach efforts to owners of forested lands, such as the Rhode Island COVERTS program, to educate them on how best to manage their properties to improve habitat for wildlife.<\/p>\n


\nPhoto cutline:

\nState biologist Brian Tefft and 溏心vlog免费B站 student Jeff D\u2019Arrigo attach a tracking device to a woodcock as part of their research on habitat use by the forest-dwelling game birds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Analysis of habitat use could lead to better forest management practices KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 November 5, 2009 \u2013 An ecologist at the 溏心vlog免费B站 studying habitat use by a forest-dwelling game bird found that the birds unexpectedly exhibited what he described as \u201cthe bar scene phenomenon\u201d \u2013 spending most of their time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}