Ron Rohrbaugh from Audubon Pennsylvania has co-authored a study showing how changes in forest structure caused by increasing deer populations may be affecting birds. Birds living in mature forests that spend most of their time in the understory—such as Hooded Warbler, Ovenbird, and Wood Thrush—fared the worst, becoming scarcer in the years following a rise in deer population. A lack of diversity in the forest floor and shrub layer of the forest also corresponds to lack of insect diversity and abundance, meaning less food available for thrushes during breeding season. Biologists are trying to untangle how these deer-driven changes to forests are affecting bird populations, and are studying how to rein in deer numbers to give forest habitats—and the birds that rely on them—a chance for a comeback. Read the article in Living Bird magazine.
