G. A. McPeek

Response of Forest Birds to an Improvement Cut in Kentucky

Wildlife Outstanding Technical Paper

An improvement cut that removed commercially low-quality trees from an unmanaged 20-ha, 60-year-old, mixed mesophytic forest in Kentucky reduced the availability of cavities, snags, and small seeds. Stand basal area was reduced from 21 to 17 m2/ha. The abundance of primary and secondary cavity-using birds, as well as neotropical, migrant songbirds, was not affected severely by the cut. Both winter and breeding populations of primary cavity-using birds, breeding great crested flycatchers (Myiarchus crinitus), tufted titmice (Parus hicolor), and Carolina wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus) were...