Douglas R. Wood

Accurate nocturnal bird abundance and distribution data are necessary for managing nocturnal avian communities. We compared vocalization playback and silent methods for surveying 3 nocturnal avian species in Mississippi in 1997 and 1998. Playback elicited more responses from eastern screech-owls (Otus asio) than the silent method. Playback was more effective than the silent method at detecting habitat associations of eastern screech-owls, which were strongly associated with pine regeneration stands than pine sawtimber stands and pine-hardwood stands. Playback of broadcast vocalizations...

To facilitate recovery of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW), management priorities and practices on >800,000 ha of Forest Service land in the Southeastern United States have been realigned to restore the pine-grassland system to which the RCW is adapted. Management regimes for RCW involve fire and mechanical suppression of hardwood understory and midstory. As such, RCW management practices might be expected to alter plant communities and associated wildlife populations. We examined differences in vegetation composition and structure between mature pine stands managed for red-...