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If you see an American woodcock or ruffed grouse in the Upper Midwest or Appalachians, chances are you're in great golden-winged warbler habitat! All three of these birds require early-successional forests with abundant shrubbery and young trees, providing food, cover and nesting sites. These forests tend to be a sign of healthy forest management, with a good balance of young, middle-age and mature trees. We at the bet365下载ios wanted to tell you more about the beautiful golden-winged warbler, along with some of the challenges they face.
What makes good nesting habitat?
Golden-winged warblers spend summers in the northern Great Lakes and Champlain regions and throughout the Appalachian Mountain range and winters in Central America and the Andes region of Colombia and Venezuela.
Shrub wetland habitat in the Great Lakes region is typically characterized by vegetated, non-channel systems like marshes, swamps, bogs and wet meadows that are dominated by broad-leaved deciduous woody vegetation less than 20 feet tall. These trees include red maple, tamarack and balsam poplar, also known as aspen. If you have wetland shrub habitat with alders, willows or bog birch, you might already have great places for golden-winged warblers to nest. Wetland shrub habitat provides lots of small, open herbaceous patches with either dry ground or sedge tussocks that provide possible nest sites. These warblers also like scattered patches or clumps of woody shrubs that are spread out with lots of escape routes and scattered trees. When these lands experience regular, low-intensity fire, floods and other natural processes that disturb the area, golden-winged warblers are likely to move in and look for nesting opportunities.
Abandoned farmlands throughout the Appalachians also provide excellent places for golden-winged warblers to nest. Perhaps the best opportunities exist on high elevation areas called balds, and poorly drained soils that are too wet for pasture or crops. While there is a specific timeline and balance of regrowth that we aim for in older working landscapes, the right balance of herbaceous vegetation, shrubs and young trees on a given site can potentially create habitat for breeding golden-winged warblers.
Changes in range and habitat availability
In recent decades, golden-winged warblers have experienced an overall breeding range contraction while also shifting northward. Unfortunately, they have disappeared from more of the range than they鈥檝e expanded into. This change is due in part to loss of the young forest habitat that these birds require for nesting and foraging. Human development and forest management practices have created an overabundance of mature forest that is not optimal for golden-winged warblers, and a shortage of young forest, known as early successional habitat.
They love Minnesota, dontcha know!
The breeding range of the golden-winged warbler is now mostly split into two regions, about 95% of the population is found around the Upper Great Lakes and the other 5% in the Appalachians. Minnesota has the highest remaining density of golden-winged warblers, with about half the global population. How do we know this? Their accent! Only kidding 鈥 we use long-term bird surveys to keep tabs on changes in bird populations on breeding and wintering grounds. Partners and volunteers are an essential part of data collection, and some surveys have been running since 1966! Minnesota has ideal habitat for these warblers, including shrubby wetlands, young forest patches and regenerating stands. Minnesota鈥檚 forests and wetlands provide ideal conditions for these warblers where they often nest on the ground.
The threat of hybridization
Another issue golden-winged warblers are experiencing is hybridization and competition with closely related blue-winged warblers, especially as the two species' ranges shift into overlapping areas. Even though golden-winged and blue-winged warblers look very different, genetically they're 99.97% alike. Hybrid forms go by the names of Brewster鈥檚 warblers and Lawrence鈥檚 warblers 鈥 both of which are fairly commonly seen.
Coffee connection
Golden-winged warblers spend winters in Central and South America where they seek out open woodlands and native, shade-grown coffee plantations for both food and shelter. Loss of open forests at wintering grounds presents a problem for these warblers, but bird-friendly, shade-grown coffee and cacao plantations can help retain winter habitat.
You can help!
If you want to welcome golden-winged warblers to your property in the summer months and you鈥檙e within parts of the Upper Midwest and Appalachians, you may be able to get restoration expertise and even funding from our Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program.
Learn more about the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program.
