Today I joined a biologist from the state and from the US forest service in setting up test plots on a five year old clearcut and nearby forest that will be clearcut later this year. The main aim of this study is to determine the species content and number in both habitats and how they change with the additional clearcut. The hope is that the addition of more scrubland type habitat will increase the numbers of some declining species such as Prairie Warbler, Chestnut Sided Warbler, Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow and Indigo Bunting. We laid out the plot points today and did our first point counts. Highlights included nests of Prairie and Chestnut Sided Warblers, Common Yellowthoat and Gray Catbird. We also had a pair of Broad winged Hawks and a Red Shouldered Hawk. We will do two more visits this season.
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