Field Season 2020 Week V

6/22/2020 Monday - SGL38
Finding my way around SGL38 and Bethlehem Water Authority I noticed non-burned areas that there cut so I decided to throw these in. I may not be able to find enough to say anything but they are a forest management strategy. A shelterwood cut is a clear cut with a few scattered trees left. At this site in Long Pond, they left oaks and pitch pine. These sites are great for Field Sparrow and Eastern Bluebird. The trees still had Black-and-White Warbler and Red-eyed Vireos. As this site becomes for shrubby, it might host Golden-winged Warblers, Blue Grosbeaks, and Yellow-breasted Chats. What I have noticed about PA's management strategy on game lands is that the scales are very large - hundreds of acres get the same treatment. But many birds will use various habitat types within their territory. Wood Thrush, for example, nest in small patches of an old opening that is filled with dense vegetation and they'll forage in areas with a closed canopy and open understory.  

6/23/2020 Tuesday - Cameras on Jacob's Property/Audiomoth

Finally figured out why I wasn't getting any sound on my Audiomoth - I needed to update by firmware. Ugh.  These units are getting a lot of buzz but I haven't been able to find any publications on their use with birds. They're a fraction of the cost of other ARUs. 

6/24 - 6/28  Rain or meetings 
Some data entry. Had a "low level" manuscript rejected (as expected actually). 

Field Season 2020 Week IV

Monday 6/15/2020

SGL 57. Interesting site with points that were unburned (full of Veery, Black-throated Blue Warbler), very recently burned (with Veery!), and cut and burned (with American Robin - yes, they can live without yards). The bird highlight was two points with Cerulean Warbler in the burned sections. Mammal highlight was a porcupine. 

Tuesday 6/16/2020 - off 

Wednesday 6/17/2020 and Thursday 6/18/2020 - SGL 38 
SGL38 is located in the Poconos and, apparently has many rattlesnakes. In fact, if you go back in this blog you'll find pictures of one I came across. Also the site that had a bear I estimate was over 600 pounds. The two days I was out had no bears and no rattlesnakes. Sites were burned in 2012 - 2014 but I suspect that this placed burned many times before that. It was covered in bear oak and pitch pine with all the hallmarks of having been burned (e.g., epicormic needs coming directly out of the bark). The density of towhees, Prairie Warblers, and Chestnut-sided Warblers is through the roof. No Golden-winged Warblers. 

One dimension I need to add to the research picture is the effect of cutting on bird communities. Thinning as a large effect on understory plant density and cut + burn makes for some interesting habitat. If they were to repeatedly burn, I think some grasses would move in and then they'd get Golden-winged. Just a guess. I remember my one and only GWWA on a territory and it was on a powerline in NJ (seen during my one and only World Series of Birding in 1990). Powerlines in the NE US have scattered shrubs, grasses and forest edges. 

Allegheny Mound Ant mount and ant (below)

Epicormic needles in pitch pine

Friday - Sunday - off 

Field Season 2020 Week III

Monday 6/8/2020 SGL 110

This State Game Land straddles the Appalachian Trail just north of Reading, PA. It's a bit of a drive (1.5 hours) but it has plots that were burned in 2016, 2017, and a plot that will be burned in 2020. So I can get lots on information on birds and burning from one site. The other downer is the distance between sites. I walked almost 20,000 steps. Bird-wise wasn't very exciting but the burn sites were a joy to walk through since the fire took out the very dense mountain laurel. Was able to get 7 points in. Not great. Next time I should bring a mountain bike to take on the game road from plot to plot. 

Met with two colleagues about fancy ways to measure vegetation structure with LIDAR and drones. Still need to start getting measurements with some new (not newest) tools. 

Tuesday - Sunday off

Feeling lazy. Took a fall on Monday that left me a bit sore. Tripped on dewberry and I thought I would turn it into a roll - I just flopped on my side.  

Field Season 2020 Week II

Monday (6/1/2020)

• Bird surveys on SGL091. This section was cut and burned. Tons of birds and all the usual suspects for early successional forests, including Chestnut-sided Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Field Sparrow. The last being one of the first birds to leave an area that converts to a forest. 

Tuesday (6/2/2020)

• Went to survey SGL 326 which has three burning years  (https://paprescribedfire.org/map)  so an ideal site if you want to know how bird communities change after a burn. The gate to the "road" was closed and I don't have permission to drive on the site so it was a bit of a bust. The nearest site was just over a mile walk and I don't just don't have it in me. 
• Met up with an ornithologist from the Schuylkill area and gave me back a camera I had left behind last year. Set on video and put onto a Wood Thrush nest. Lasted about three days and then stopped recording for whatever reason. Unfortunately, the angle was too high so we could only see the adults. Problem with nature - doesn't always give you the perfect opportunities
• Went to the Jacob's property to check out the game cameras. Captured chipmunk, squirrel, raccoon and deer. Still hoping to get video of bear, beaver, etc. 

Wednesday 

• Field day off. Three meetings. 
• Read a paper "The worldwide impact of urbanisation on avian functional diversity" in Ecology Letters. Great paper. Stats will take some time to figure out but interesting paper. 

Thursday 

• Surveyed a few points on SGL91- same state game land as Monday but very different section near Pittston. Burned sites were logged then burned. The regrowth was shoulder height and just above. Soaked to the point of saturation - everywhere. I have data (I should) from when I surveyed in 2017. Last time I was here the trees were chest high and exceedingly thick - mostly oak saplings. Now the oaks are just over the my head slightly less dense as they start to self thin. The ground cover was slight (if one defines ground cover as <1 m from the ground). I think there fewer birds. We'll see. 

Friday 

• Took a field day off. Entered a bunch of data. Called the vet. Laundry. Bottle of wine.

Saturday 

• Survey at SGL55. Some of it was cut over and burned (a mess) and some was just burned (glorious). Lot's of Hooded Warblers. Lot's of rocks flipped over by bears. Lot's of American Chestnut sprouts 

Sunday 

• Day off for chores