Bewicks's wren Photo by Kelli McAllister	Black-capped chickadee Photo by Kelli McAllister
Song sparrow Photo by Brad Manchas	Spotted towhee Photo by Kelli McAllister

Study targets bird use of Puget Sound urban areas

An investigation of how resident birds use the urban environment is getting underway this fall in western Washington, possibly involving some Backyard Wildlife Sanctuaries.

Researchers will be capturing and color-leg-banding five species that exhibit either flocking or territorial behavior in the fall and winter -- black-capped and chestnut-backed chickadees, spotted towhees, song sparrows, Oregon juncos, and Bewick's wrens. Volunteers will be helping record observations of these banded birds through the winter by watching backyard feeders and walking weekly transects in the vicinity of banding locations. Basic vegetation and habitat features at both the banding and re-sighting locations will be recorded.

The re-sighting of color-banded birds over time will help researchers assess the birds’ fidelity to specific sites and their dispersal in the urban environment. Little is currently known about how native birds that persist in completely urban environments (small-parcel landscape lots) make use of the changed landscape, and what role that landscape plays for the resident populations during the non-breeding season.

Preliminary banding evidence from Seattle indicates a variety of strategies among wintering birds. While song sparrows display winter site fidelity in urban backyards, spotted towhees seem to show fidelity only in larger habitat reserves, and Oregon juncos are regularly recaptured at urban locations far distant from where they were originally banded.

Researchers hope to understand the role urban environments play in birds’ lives throughout the year by documenting movements of birds within and between seasons, their persistence in a variety of urban settings from small and medium sized urban parks, open spaces, or backyard wildlife sanctuaries, and variability in responses based on bird age or habitat features.

In addition, the vegetation cover data should lend new information. Supporters of native plant landscaping frequently invoke the benefits for birds, yet few if any studies have documented how the patchwork and variety of backyard conditions in urban landscapes affect birds.

Large tracts of forest habitats at the Islandwood Nature Center on Bainbridge Island will serve as a control site for the study.

The research is being conducted by Donald Norman and Sherry Hudson of Norman Wildlife Consulting, along with Dan Froehlich of the University of Washington Burke Museum, Stephanie Forbes, Mark Myers and Gretchen Albrecht of Woodland Park Zoo, and Karen Salsbury of Islandwood.

Besides WDFW and National Wildlife Federation backyard program participants, project cooperators include Seattle Parks Department and City of Lake Forest Park Parks Department.