Public Lands: Habitat for All
Yellow-breasted Chat, banded at the breeding bird banding station in Charles D. Kelley – Autauga Wildlife Management Area (WMA), which biologists initiated to study songbirds and better understand how land management practices impact breeding birds.
In central Alabama, lies the Charles D. Kelley – Autauga Wildlife Management Area (WMA), named after the late WFF Director Charles D. Kelley, who received national recognition for his work in returning bald eagles, bluebirds, and osprey to the state. This WMA offers 10,463 acres of upper coastal plain habitat that wildlife from deer to bluebirds utilize. While the area is primarily used for hunting deer, turkey, and rabbits, this WMA, along with others, also serves as important habitat for numerous songbirds.
To study songbirds and better understand how land management practices impact breeding birds, biologists initiated a breeding bird banding station on Autauga WMA in 2021. The habitat surrounding the banding station consists of mixed hardwood-pine forests, woodlands, and old fields, or early successional habitat. The early successional habitat was previously a loblolly pine plantation that was clearcut and planted with longleaf pine in 2020. As the young pines continue to grow and are managed, this area will transition to an open pine stand, and biologists will monitor changes in songbird composition during that transition.
During breeding season, birds are captured using mist nests placed in various habitats within a 50-acre study area. When birds are flying, the net catches them and drops them into a pocket, where they are quickly extracted by biologists. Biologists band the birds and collect various data such as species, age, sex, etc. Each bird band has a unique set of numbers that can be used later to identify that specific bird. Once all data is collected, the bird is released, forever linking the bird’s band number to that data.
Comparing the data initially gathered to when the bird is recovered can provide information on migration, longevity, habitat use, and site fidelity, etc. Since its inception, 362 individuals representing 42 species have been captured and banded. Of those banded in previous years, 60 have been recaptured, many of them being Neotropical migrants, meaning when they left the WMA last year, they flew to Latin America to winter. Then, they returned to the WMA to breed during summer. For example, in July 2021, we captured and banded a Yellow-breasted Chat which has been recaptured every year since. Thanks to bird banding, we already see evidence of how important Autauga WMA, and all WMAs, are to breeding songbirds. It is through the continued management of these public lands that breeding habitat is conserved for game and all wildlife species.
