Photos by M. Nichols, K. Ramster, and K. Eldridge

Monitoring Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica cerulea) Breeding Productivity and Populations in the Cumberland Mountains of East Tennessee

Project Objectives:

My Master’s research encompasses the first two years of a 5 year cooperative effort to study the response of Cerulean Warbler populations to experimental timber management throughout the species’ breeding range. These two years involve the collection of pre-treatment data on two study sites in the Cumberland Mountains of Eastern Tennessee, Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area and Sundquist Wildlife Management Area. Because the Cerulean Warbler is a species of management concern and because, as in the case of the Cumberland Mountains, there are increasing pressures to alter its breeding habitat in an area where it is historically abundant, efforts are being made to determine its specific habitat requirements, what level of timber management best represents these requirements, and to examine the response of their populations to land use practices such as coal mining.

For this project, individual territories are delineated and mapped and nests are found and monitored. We use playback equipment to attract and catch individual males, which are then color-banded and monitored throughout the season. Each nest is video-taped on day 6 or 7 of the nestling phase to gauge parental feeding rates and prey size. Spot maps are conducted in each of the four plots on both sites to determine the overall density of other species breeding in the region. The habitat characteristics of each territory and nest site, as well as a number of random locations throughout the study area, are quantified using fixed radius plots. The first field season for this project occurred during the summer of 2005.

Above: Male feeding a fledgling (photo by J. Boadway)

Above: Adult Male Cerulean Warbler (photo by T. Beachy)

Above: Juvenile Cerulean Warbler (photo by K. Eldridge)