The Song of a Wood Thrush is Good News for Landowners Who Love Birds

The flute-like music of a Wooden Thrush is without doubt one of the signature sounds of summer season forests within the Northeast. However that acquainted music is changing into much less frequent as forests turn out to be more and more fragmented and habitat circumstances 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 selections that assist maintain birds throughout the panorama.

That is the purpose of Audubon’s Wooden Thrush Mission: 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 latest day-long program, foresters, land managers, and conservation professionals got here collectively to discover this purpose. The coaching was held at Bent of the River Audubon Heart in Southbury, Connecticut, a 700-acre sanctuary with ultimate habitat circumstances. 

“I took the coaching with a fellow member of the Hamden Land Conservation Belief right here in Connecticut,” mentioned attendee Craig Repasz. “We have now small properties lower than 12 acres. The thought of planting and sustaining totally different habitat sorts to create areas essential to the Wooden Thrush’s life cycle is one thing we’ll attempt to implement. Our small patch of shrubs might match right into a larger matrix.”

For Wendolyn Hill, Open House Coordinator for the City of Lyme, Connecticut, the chance was private. Wooden Thrush can nonetheless be heard in lots of the preserves she manages, making the species’ decline much more regarding.

“Studying from specialists in regards to the causes to supply variety of age class and construction in habitats for the Wooden Thrush, which has had an alarming 60% decline since 1966, evokes 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 circumstances assist birds at varied phases of the breeding season.

Displays lined habitat assessments, forest administration methods, and fowl monitoring strategies, whereas afternoon subject excursions supplied an opportunity to see these ideas utilized on-the-ground.

Contributors visited mature forest, younger forest habitat, and riparian areas and mentioned how totally different habitat sorts 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 take care of wholesome forests, then they might be impressed to take motion.” Steve himself was impressed by the mowing strategies 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 may also 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 Mission 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.