More than 1,000 bird species rely on U.S. forests and rangelands, and each plays an important role in sustaining healthy ecosystems. Birds of prey like hawks and owls keep rodents and other small mammal populations in check. Many others consume mosquitoes, crop pests, and other insects; for example, warblers eat spruce budworms, helping to prevent millions of dollars of damage to timber. Even vultures play a critical role by cleaning up dead animals and reducing the spread of disease. Forests also depend upon birds for pollination, seed dispersal, and moving nutrients across ecosystems.

Many bird species are in steep decline due to habitat loss and degradation. Our national forests and rangelands and wilderness areas offer a lifeline, providing sensitive or threatened bird species protected habitat and locations where scientists and the public can better engage and understand them.

Forest Service researchers study many bird species and communities because:

• As the basis for the multi-billion-dollar birdwatching industry, the subject of photography, gamebird hunting, and nature-focused tourism, birds are important to our spiritual wellbeing and economy.

• Forest and rangeland management can be key to maintaining the range of quality habitats bird species depend on. For example, populations of many migratory bird species are declining because of the decrease in grasslands, shrublands, open woodlands, or other early successional habitats.

• Some bird species serve as “canaries in the coal mine.” These species' population health can indicate the well-being of the ecosystem at large. For example, the Forest Service is working with the Bureau of Land Management and other agencies to maintain and restore key habitats for the Greater Sage-Grouse and other sagebrush-associated species.

• Climate change highlights the importance of maintaining high quality habitats and movement corridors for birds and other wildlife to facilitate survival and migration across landscapes in response to shifting environments and forest conditions.

• Climate change, wildfire, and forest management are changing forested habitat critical for spotted owl nesting. All three subspecies of spotted owl have declined over the last century, and the Mexican and northern subspecies are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Featured Work

• Monitoring programs and methods to track bird populations, giving forest managers and other conservationists an “early detection” system for steep population declines.

• Researching habitat requirements of endangered and sensitive bird species such as red-cockaded woodpeckers, Mexican and northern spotted owls, northern goshawk, sage-grouse, Florida scrub-jays, and Kirtland’s warblers. 

• Restoring and managing populations and habitats of gamebirds such as wild turkey, ruffed grouse, and woodcock.