May 2016 Meeting

Tue, May 3, 6:00 – 9:00 pm
Blue Spruce County Park
Speaker: David Yeany, 412-586-2313, Conservation Planning Specialist, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy

Description

This is our annual banquet meeting which begins at 6:00 p.m. Please bring a dish to share and your own place settings. David Yeany will speak on his studies of forest interior birds.

Over the past three years, the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program at the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has been studying forest breeding birds across the state. A particular focus was directed at Forest Interior-dwelling Species or FIDS, which include birds like Scarlet Tanager, Black-throated Blue Warbler, or Swainsonï¿½s Thrush. FIDS generally need large contiguous blocks of unfragmented forest to breed successfully and maintain healthy populations. Utilizing off-road survey methods, our research investigated cumulative disturbance impacts in the context of natural resource development,and bird-forest community relationships with implications for forest management on public lands. We established a better understanding of what disturbance may mean to FIDS and how relative high and low levels of disturbance can impact speciesï¿½ abundance and community composition. Also, by determining which forest community types support the highest densities of forest interior birds and by identifying some key forest characteristics for priority species, we can provide science-based conservation recommendations for these forest specialists, many of which are Species of Greatest Conservation Need.