Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Missouri
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

The group of birds known, collectively, as secretive marshbirds (SMB) includes some hunted species as well as species of greatest conservation need, within the Midwest region and the Mississippi Flyway. However, there is limited basic ecological information that evaluates whether wetland habitats available on public lands, and management actions directed toward other wetland-dependent taxa within the Mississippi Flyway, are meeting annual life cycle needs for this diverse suite of birds. The overall goal of this project is to better understand habitat requirements of SMB across their full annual cycle (i.e., migration, breeding and wintering periods) throughout the Midwest and the Mississippi Flyway and evaluate how wetland management practices on public lands have potential to influence SMB species distribution and habitat use. Thus, we have designed a multi-phase project involving 1) a meta-analysis to quantitatively assess our current knowledge of SMB habitat associations and identify broad trends across life history events and wetland types within the Mississippi Flyway, and 2) a literature review of how wetland management actions for other wetland-dependent species wetland habitats have the potential to impact SMB species. This project will further our understanding of seasonal interactions for SMB species throughout the Midwest, identify critical information gaps in our knowledge of full annual cycle SMB habitat needs and meet technical information needs identified by the Midwest Marshbird Working Group and the Mississippi Flyway Nongame Technical Section.