Abstract

Response of Breeding Bird Populations to Habitat Changes in a Giant Sequoia Forest. B.M. Kilgore. 1971. Amer. Midl. Nat. 85:135-152.

Bird species composition in a montane sequoia mixed-conifer forest was studied in unburned and in prescribed burned areas. Burning increased the openness of low vegetation without major modification of the overstory and led to changes in bird species composition but not in total biomass of avifauna. This was because thickets of small trees were least important for bird feeding and nesting while upper canopy and understory were most important. Nesting flycatchers and robins increased and three ground-nesting species were reduced.