Regional breeding bird monitoring in Western Great Lakes National Forests
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We established breeding bird monitoring programs in three National Forests in northern Minnesota (Superior and Chippewa in 1991) and northern Wisconsin (Chequamegon in 1992). A total of 134, 169, and 132 stands (1,272 survey points) have been surveyed annually in these forests through 2002. We examined trends in relative abundance for 53 species in the Chequamegon, 51 species in the Chippewa, and 41 species in the Superior. Thirty-six species were also tested for regional trends by combining data from the three forests. Twenty-four species increased significantly (P < 0.05) in at least one forest and 23 species decreased. Six species had significant increasing regional trends and ten had significant decreasing trends. The most convincing increasing regional trends (P < 0.01) were Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus) and American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla). The most convincing regional decreasing trends were Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens), Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes), Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus), and Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodius). Species with increasing trends were early- to mid-successional, deciduous forest species that nest in the shrub or subcanopy layers, whereas species with decreasing trends were mature forest species, many of which nest on the ground. Nest predation may be having negative effects on declining groundnesters. In a comparison of 35 species, our trends and BBS trends from strata 20 and 28 were the same for 10 species. Inconsistencies in trends were likely due to differences in area included to calculate trends and sampling methods. Our monitoring data have been used extensively by the Forest Service and Minnesota and Wisconsin for a variety of activities related to bird conservation in this region. In addition, bird/habitat data have been used to develop forest management planning software applications.