The Nature Conservancy in Ohio - Warblers Need Forest on Both Ends of Flyway

Warblers Need Forest on Both Ends of Flyway

Every fall the cerulean warbler will leave southeastern Ohio and embark on an incredible 2,000-mile journey to its wintering grounds. Many of these small, blue insect-eaters will settle down for the season in Colombia and Venezuela – countries teeming with bird biodiversity. But faced with habitat loss in both their wintering and breeding grounds, populations of the species have been steadily declining for decades, pushing scientists to seek a better understanding of the bird’s forest habitat needs.

Because the breeding grounds of the Ohio Appalachian Forest region contain the largest proportion of the global population of cerulean warblers, The Nature Conservancy knows that its conservation planning efforts in the region will increase the chances of survival for this bird and other species as well.

“Cerulean warblers may be used as an indicator of ecosystem condition or as an umbrella species,” explained Dr. Amanda Rodewald, principle investigator of a research project supported by the Ohio Chapter and designed to study how forest management impacts cerulean warbler populations on its breeding and wintering grounds. “By ensuring that the needs of cerulean warblers are met, then we may find that the needs of many other mature-forest species are also represented.”

Rodewald’s research in southeastern Ohio and Venezuela will play a key role in guiding the Conservancy’s planning efforts on a large scale. “We hope to identify factors that currently limit populations and, based on this information, suggest effective strategies to better conserve the habitat that ceruleans depend on,” said Rodewald.