Forestry for Michigan Birds (FMB) is an initiative designed to help forest landowners and managers integrate healthy and sustainable forest management and planning while keeping in mind habitat needs for forest bird species.

FMB aims to create, enhance, and conserve habitat for birds and other wildlife while also:

  • Providing for landowner income
  • Keeping forests healthy
  • Offering forest management options                                        
  • Adapting to climate change
  • Planning for future generations

You don’t have to own a large plot of land for this information to be helpful to you! According to the U.S. Forest Service, “If you have an acre or more of land with trees on at least 10 percent of it, you have a forest.”

Why is Michigan Important?

With a variety of habitat types and the proximity to the Great Lakes, more than 450 different species of birds have been found in Michigan. Almost half of those have been confirmed as breeding in the state. With 20 million acres of forestland in Michigan, many of these breeding bird species rely on the habitat found within these forests. Each spring, Michigan’s forests become vibrant “baby bird factories” as migratory birds, such as the Red-eyed Vireo or Black-throated Green Warbler, return to find their mates, make their nests, and raise their young. The quality of food, water, and shelter provided by Michigan’s forests includes all the needs for the survival of birds and their new babies. 

What’s the Problem?

Since 1970, North America has lost 3 billion birds, or roughly one in four birds, which represents an alarming decline of many of our most cherished species, such as the Wood Thrush. While populations of some groups of birds, such as waterfowl, have increased due to successful conservation efforts, other groups, including forest and grassland birds, have not. Forest bird populations as a whole have declined by 1.2 billion birds since 1970. That means there are simply fewer individuals of most species remaining in our forests, which also means a tremendous decrease in the natural benefits of birds, such as control of forest pests and seed dispersal.

How Can You Help?

With 20 million acres of forestland in Michigan, it’s critical for us to be aware of how we are impacting the habitat that birds use across the state. Landowners and professional land managers can work together to create, enhance, or maintain your properties’ habitat features across the landscape.

Forest Owner’s Guide: This guidebook provides high level information for the typical forest landowner that is looking for information about what they can do to get started managing their property with birds in mind.

Forest Manager’s Guide: This guidebook dives deeper into the technical information that professionals can utilize when discussing management with landowners, creating forest management plans, or conducting on-the-ground management.

Bird Habitat Assessment Datasheet: FMB has provided two data sheets related to each guide. With the landowner’s data sheet, landowners can collect information about habitat on their property which will help provide more information to professionals during initial discussions. Professionals can then utilize the manager’s data sheet to collect more details to use in the long-term planning process.

Improve Your Bird Knowledge

Along with the management information provided within the toolkit guides, 20 priority species were chosen to represent FMB across the different forest types and areas of Michigan. A critical aspect of assessing bird habitat is knowing what birds are present on the property. Improving your bird identification and song identification can give you insight into what types of birds are currently attracted to your property and give you a starting point for management discussions. 

The following are great resources for improving your bird identification skills:

  • All About Birds Online Guide by the Cornell Lab: An online guide to birds and birdwatching that includes information on Bird ID Skills, Feeding Birds, FAQs and Common Problems, Bird-Friendly Homes, and more. 
  • Merlin Smartphone App by Cornell Lab: Answer three simple questions about a bird you are trying to identify, and Merlin will come up with a list of possible matches. Merlin offers quick identification help for all levels of bird watchers to learn about the birds across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. This app is free to download.
  • Sibley Birds V2 Smartphone App: The app based on the Sibley Guide to Birds includes all of the content in the printed guide as well as over 2,800 audio recordings, additional text, complete seasonal status data for every species in every state and province, hundreds of searchable criteria, and much more. There is a cost associated with this app. 
  • Audubon Online Guide to North American Birds: Features a catalog of North American bird species information, songs, climate vulnerability, and more.
  • Bird Watcher’s Digest: What bird is that? Consult this bird identification guide to ID mystery birds in the backyard and beyond. Photos, song recordings, in-depth entries, and more help bird watchers correctly identify the birds they spot. 

Forest Habitats With Birds in Mind

Each bird species uses slightly different habitat features, even if the same acre (or tree!) within a forest is shared. Resource partitioning, a division of limited resources within the ecological niche, is a way for wildlife to co-exist. For example, Cerulean Warblers nest in the uppermost third of the forest, whereas Black-throated Blue Warblers nest within six feet of the ground in a well-developed shrub layer. Both warblers are insectivorous but easily co-exist, each foraging at different heights in the forest.

Other species have different requirements — Some may need an older forest with little understory growth, such as the Northern Goshawk. Others, like the American Woodcock, need areas with dense, brushy understory and wide-open areas for their breeding displays. Forest age class is also a factor. Kirtland’s Warblers only use jack pine forest when it is young, and trees are less than 30 feet tall.

The Forestry for Michigan Birds project has identified 20 priority bird species (pictured above) and provides more information about them and the habitats they depend on in the toolkits for forest landowners and managers.

Forestry for Michigan Birds Events

Forestry for Michigan Birds will hold events such as workshops, bird hikes, webinars, and more at various times of the year. These events will provide opportunities to take topics written in text and visualize them in the forest. They will help delve deeper into any topics and questions that participants may have and provide opportunities to practice bird identification and habitat assessment and how to use that information to develop a forest management plan. 

Workshops typically will consist of a classroom presentation portion followed by field trips to nearby forests that portray many topics discussed. Presenters typically include American Bird Conservancy staff, FMB steering committee members, and local hosting organizations. If you’re interested in attending an event, you can find information about events on the Michigan Audubon events calendar.

Contact

If you have any additional questions about Forestry for Michigan Birds, how to get started with managing your property, making a donation, or finding local resources, contact American Bird Conservancy at michiganbirds@abcbirds.org or 906-251-3065.

Visit www.michiganaudubon.org/our-conservation-impact/forestry-for-michigan-birdshttps://www.michiganaudubon.org/our-conservation-impact/forestry-for-michigan-birds/ for information and to download your toolkits.

~ by Michael Paling, American Bird Conservancy

Michael Paling graduated from Michigan Technological University in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in Forestry. He came to American Bird Conservancy after spending over two years working with private landowners as a forester for Michigan’s Forestry Assistance Program with conservation districts in Western Lower Michigan.