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

Compared to use of nesting habitat, habitat use by forest-nesting songbirds following fledging is relatively poorly understood. Recent studies based on point counts and mist-netting, and monitoring movement of fledglings via radio-telemetry, suggest that for at least some species of forest-nesting songbirds, habitat use post-fledging can be quite different from breeding-habitat use. To date, information regarding habitat use following fledging for forest nesting birds is limited to a few studies from eastern (Virginia and West Virginia) and southern (Missouri) deciduous forests, and from only a few species of forest-nesting birds. No published information regarding post-fledging habitat use exists for northern hardwood-coniferous forest birds in the western Great Lakes region. Forest-management plans that incorporate considerations for forest-nesting birds generally do not consider habitat use following fledging. A more complete understanding of habitat use by forest-nesting birds in northern hardwood-coniferous forests would provide the basis for better incorporating considerations for forest-nesting birds in forest management in the western Great Lakes region. Specifically, our goals are to (1) determine what species of forest-nesting birds (both adults and fledglings) use a range of habitats from early successional to mature forest during the post-fledging period, and (2) document post-fledging movements and habitat use of selected forest-nesting species in northern hardwood-coniferous forests in northern Minnesota.