An eastern phoebe at Homestead National Historical Park. NPS photo.
Why count birds
Birds eat pests, spread seeds, pollinate plants, feed us and give us recreation — and park programs often feature them for the pleasure they bring. They are also good indicators of environmental change, a "canary in the coal mine" for ecosystems. Many, such as the northern bobwhite, are declining.
How the surveys work
Scientists survey the park's birds in the breeding season, and the structure and makeup of their habitat at the same time, to learn how birds respond to it. Regional surveys show whether local trends match the wider picture. The park lies in the Central Mixed-grass Prairie Bird Conservation Region.
The park within the Central Mixed-grass Prairie Bird Conservation Region. NPS map.
What they found
- Species: 86 species over 9 years (2009–2017), seventy-four of them breeding species. Two are of concern for the region: Bell's vireo and the red-headed woodpecker.
- Common birds: the American goldfinch, dickcissel, house wren and red-winged blackbird.
- Trends in the park: Thirteen species were common enough to track. American goldfinch and brown-headed cowbird declined; the rest held steady.
- Trends in the region: northern bobwhite and red-winged blackbird declined, red-bellied woodpecker increased, and the others held steady.
- Overall: the park's populations are doing as well as the region's, and steady species richness suggests the park's habitat has stayed much the same.
Trends in bird species richness at the park. NPS figure.
Park bird population trends (2009–2017) compared with the Central Mixed Grass Prairie region's (2005–2015), from the Breeding Bird Surveys. Error bars show 95% confidence intervals. NPS figure.
Why it matters
Changes in bird numbers may reflect habitat management, so tracking birds and habitat together helps the park manage for birds — and preserving their habitat preserves whole ecosystems.
Species recorded
By residency: R year-round resident, SR summer resident, M migrant; the white-winged dove was recorded as T and the yellow-bellied sapsucker as WR. Species marked * were recorded only between survey plots or outside the 5-minute counts.
| Year-round residents | Summer residents | Migrants |
|---|---|---|
| American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, barred owl, belted kingfisher, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, brown creeper, brown thrasher, brown-headed cowbird, Canada goose, Carolina wren, cedar waxwing, common grackle, Cooper's hawk, downy woodpecker, eastern bluebird, eastern meadowlark, eastern towhee, European starling, field sparrow, hairy woodpecker, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern bobwhite, northern cardinal, northern flicker, red-bellied woodpecker, red-headed woodpecker, red-tailed hawk, red-winged blackbird, ring-necked pheasant, song sparrow, spotted towhee, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, wild turkey | American redstart, American woodcock*, Baltimore oriole, bank swallow, barn swallow, Bell's vireo, blue-gray gnatcatcher, chimney swift, chipping sparrow, cliff swallow, common yellowthroat, dickcissel, eastern kingbird, eastern phoebe, eastern wood-pewee, grasshopper sparrow, gray catbird, great blue heron, great crested flycatcher, house wren, indigo bunting, killdeer*, lark sparrow, northern rough-winged swallow, northern shoveler*, orchard oriole, red-eyed vireo, rose-breasted grosbeak, ruby-throated hummingbird, savannah sparrow, summer tanager, turkey vulture, warbling vireo, wood duck, yellow warbler, yellow-billed cuckoo, yellow-throated vireo | Blackburnian warbler*, blue-headed vireo, chestnut-sided warbler, clay-colored sparrow, hermit thrush*, least flycatcher, Swainson's thrush, Tennessee warbler*, Wilson's warbler, worm-eating warbler |
Read the full report (PDF), the park's volunteer bird monitoring page, and about the Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Sources
Based on "Bird Community Monitoring at Homestead National Historical Park," Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.
许可协议： CC0 1.0（公有领域） · 改编自 www.nps.gov
1
0
0
0
留言
