Nesting Ecology of Yellow Warblers (Dendroica petechia) in Montane Chaparral Habitat in the Northern Sierra Nevada

The Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) is considered a riparian specialist in much of western North America, but in California it also breeds in a second habitat type: montane chaparral of the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades. We monitored Yellow Warbler nests in montane chaparral and assessed t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inWestern North American naturalist Vol. 70; no. 3; pp. 355 - 363
Main Authors Humple, Diana L., Burnett, Ryan D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Provo Brigham Young University 01.10.2010
Western North American Naturalist
Subjects
Arctostaphylos patula
Bird nesting
Birds
Breeding
Chaparral
Coniferous forests
Dendroica petechia
Ecology
Forest habitats
Habitat conservation
Habitats
Highlands
montane chaparral
Montane forests
nesting ecology
northern Sierra Nevada
Ornithology
Shrubs
Warblers
xeric scrub
Yellow Warbler
Sierra Nevada Mountain Range
USA, California, Sierra Nevada Mts
USA, California
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Summary:The Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) is considered a riparian specialist in much of western North America, but in California it also breeds in a second habitat type: montane chaparral of the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades. We monitored Yellow Warbler nests in montane chaparral and assessed their poorly known nesting ecology in this habitat. We also conducted point counts in upland habitat throughout the region. We determined habitat associations for Yellow Warblers based on nest site and point-count vegetation data; nests were predominantly in bush chinquapin (Chrysolepis sempervirens) and greenleaf manzanita (Arctostaphylos patula), and point-count abundance was most strongly associated with high overall shrub cover. The importance of montane chaparral for a number of shrub-dependent Sierran birds is well documented, yet the chaparral is threatened by various practices including fire suppression, closed-canopy-focused forest management, and understory fuels-reduction treatments. Although Yellow Warblers are far more abundant in wet mountain meadow riparian habitat in the region, we recommend that management of montane chaparral habitat consider this species and the requirements of other shrub-nesting birds.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:1527-0904
1944-8341
DOI:10.3398/064.070.0308