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Capture of GWWA on Nonbreeding Grounds
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While studying migratory birds on their Costa Rican wintering grounds in March 2017, associates at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History (RTPI) were able to add some important data to the understanding of Golden-wing Warbler biology. RTPI affiliate Sean Graesser, who was working in a remote rainforest reserve in northeastern Costa Rica with other RTPI staff on a tropical biology course for high school students, captured a gorgeous male Golden-winged Warbler. When he extracted it from the net to collect data and band it, he realized that this bird already had a uniquely numbered band on its leg – a band that Sean had put there himself a year ago! Since the bird was last seen in March of 2016, it had flown to North America – likely somewhere in that upper Great Lakes Region area, possibly nested and raised young against all odds, and returned to Costa Rica to overwinter. This bird looked healthy as could be and was getting ready to make the same trek again – possibly travelling as far as 6,000 miles each year between its breeding and wintering grounds.
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Multimedia
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Golden-winged Warbler Ecology and Guidelines for Creating Breeding Habitat Presentation
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Presented by Jeff Larkin, Ph.D., Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Marja Bakermans, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
The Golden-winged Warbler is a neo-tropical migrant that breeds in early successional habitats of North America. This imperiled songbird has experienced a 90%+ population decline in the Appalachian region over the past 50 years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently considering listing this species under the Endangered Species Act. The recent completion of a study in portions of Pennsylvania and Maryland provided the foundation of a Golden-winged Warbler Forestland BMP publication. These BMP's have potential for implementation through Farm Bill programs on private lands. Learn more by viewing this webinar.
The opinions expressed in this video are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of USDA.
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Webinars and Instructional Videos
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AMJV Timber Harvest Virtual Tours
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These 360° Virtual Tour videos from Appalachian Mountains Joint Venture partners show different timber harvest techniques and their outcomes. Simply click and drag within the video to look around as you learn about different management techniques such as shelterwood harvests, overstory removals, and midstory removals that benefit many wildlife species including the Golden-winged Warbler. Includes 5 total videos.
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Webinars and Instructional Videos
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Multiscale drivers of restoration outcomes for an imperiled songbird
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Habitat restoration is a cornerstone of conservation, particularly for habitat-limited species. However, restoration efforts are
seldom rigorously monitored at meaningful spatial scales. Poor understanding of how species respond to habitat restoration
programs limits conservation efficacy for habitat-restricted species like the Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera,
GWWA). We provide one of the first concerted assessments of a national conservation program aimed at restoring songbird
habitat across its breeding range. We studied GWWA response to forest habitat restoration across two broad regions with
opposing population trajectories and assessed factors driving species use of restored habitats across multiple spatial scales.
From 2015 to 2017, we conducted 1,145 (n = 457 locations) and 519 point counts (n = 215 locations) across the Appalachian
Mountains and Great Lakes (respectively) within restored habitats. Warbler abundance within restored habitats across the
Great Lakes varied with latitude, longitude, elevation, forest type, and number of growing seasons. In the Appalachian Mountains,
occupancy ( ^ ψ) varied with longitude, elevation, forest type, and number of growing seasons. Detections were restricted
to areas within close proximity to population centers (usually <24 km) in the Appalachian Mountains, where GWWAs are rare
( ^ ψ= 0.22, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.20–0.25), but not in the Great Lakes, whereGWWAs remain common ( ^ ψ= 0.87, 95%
CI: 0.84–0.90). Our study suggests that, even when best management practices are carefully implemented, restoration outcomes
vary within/across regions and with multiscale habitat attributes. Although assessments of concerted habitat restoration efforts
remain uncommon, our study demonstrates the value of monitoring data in the adaptive management process for imperiled
species.
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Research
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WLFW Outcomes: Funded Research
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Regional abundance and local breeding productivity explain occupancy of restored habitats in a migratory songbird
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Ecological restoration is a key tool in offsetting habitat loss that threatens biodiversity worldwide, but few
projects are rigorously evaluated to determine if conservation objectives are achieved. We tested whether restoration
outcomes for an imperiled bird, the Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera; GWWA) met the
assumptions of the ‘Field of Dreams’ hypothesis or whether local and regional population dynamics impacted
restoration success. From 2015 to 18, we surveyed 514 points located in recently restored successional habitats.
We used new- and published data on the survival of 341 nests and 258 fledglings to estimate GWWA breeding
productivity. Occupancy and colonization of restored habitats were significantly higher in our Western Study
Region (Minnesota and Wisconsin) than our Eastern Study Region (Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey), a
pattern that mirrored broader regional population trends. At local scales, productivity was high in Eastern
Pennsylvania (> 3 independent juveniles/pair/year) but low in Central Pennsylvania (1 juvenile/pair/year)
while both Western and Central Minnesota hosted intermediate productivity (between 1 and 2 juveniles/pair/
year). Productivity and occupancy covaried locally in the Eastern Study Region, while occupancy was high in the
Western Study Region, despite intermediate productivity. These differences have profound implications for restoration
outcomes, as GWWA possessed robust capacity to respond to habitat restoration in both regions, but
this capacity was conditional upon local productivity where the species is rare. Our findings suggest that, even
when restoration efforts are focused on a single species and use comparable prescriptions, interactions among
processes governing habitat selection, settlement, and productivity can yield variable restoration outcomes.
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WLFW Outcomes: Funded Research
