Introduction: The importance of this study is to learn about birds and their relation to their habitat. There are many bird species that are abundant in the the woodlands of Westfield. Where different species of bird are located, depends on the environment. An environment can have a completely different habitat than another environment. Because of this, we suspect birds to favor one habitat over the other. From our hypothesis, we believe birds are going to be more numerous by the Westfield River than the wetland and will be more active during the morning. Question
Where are birds going to be most commonly spotted at walking distance from Westfield State University, the wetland or the westfield river floodplain forest?
Background: …show more content…
There are several different forest habitats in the region(ma habitat) Therefore, birds have a choice of their habitat, and their choice depends on one factor. That is birds select their habitat based on vegetation structure (seasonal bird, proquest). Vegetation can vary from openfield, to understory an midstory. There can also be distinct niches of vegetation such as disturbed sites with downed treefall, trees with snags and cavities, places with deciduous leaf litter, and forested wetlands (ma habitat). Certain species of bird, prefer to interact and nest in certain habitats. When birds migrate they select a preferred habitat based on available food sources, suitable nesting sites, competition of other species, and risk of predation (seasonal bird, proquest). The type of vegetation determines the habitat they want to live off …show more content…
They are a wetland (forested wetland) and a mid/upper story floodplain forest. To start let’s explain what a wetland and floodplain forest are. A wetland is where water covers the soil or either present near the surface of the soil for the year, or varying periods of time in the year (U.S EPA). The long term presence of water makes conditions for only specially adapted plants to thrive (U.S EPA). A floodplain forest is a bottomland or deciduous conifer forest that occur within the active zone of flooding of rivers and streams (Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Mass.gov). They are low lying areas, that receive annual silt deposition when it floods, making the soil mineral rich (Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Mass.gov)..
A wetland habitat, typically contains a low average canopy height and abundance of ground cover, primarily ferns and shrubs (ma habitat). The low canopy height influences bird habitat, as well as an higher canopy would. Canopy height height directly influences the nesting site potential of birds (ma habitat. Since a wetland has a low canopy, this dense forest layer provides potential nest sites because of its protective cover (ma - habitat). The protective cover of the thick vegetation, makes the habitat a good place to hide from predators, therefore ideal for birds to nest and lay
Where are birds going to be most commonly spotted at walking distance from Westfield State University, the wetland or the westfield river floodplain forest?
Background: …show more content…
There are several different forest habitats in the region(ma habitat) Therefore, birds have a choice of their habitat, and their choice depends on one factor. That is birds select their habitat based on vegetation structure (seasonal bird, proquest). Vegetation can vary from openfield, to understory an midstory. There can also be distinct niches of vegetation such as disturbed sites with downed treefall, trees with snags and cavities, places with deciduous leaf litter, and forested wetlands (ma habitat). Certain species of bird, prefer to interact and nest in certain habitats. When birds migrate they select a preferred habitat based on available food sources, suitable nesting sites, competition of other species, and risk of predation (seasonal bird, proquest). The type of vegetation determines the habitat they want to live off …show more content…
They are a wetland (forested wetland) and a mid/upper story floodplain forest. To start let’s explain what a wetland and floodplain forest are. A wetland is where water covers the soil or either present near the surface of the soil for the year, or varying periods of time in the year (U.S EPA). The long term presence of water makes conditions for only specially adapted plants to thrive (U.S EPA). A floodplain forest is a bottomland or deciduous conifer forest that occur within the active zone of flooding of rivers and streams (Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Mass.gov). They are low lying areas, that receive annual silt deposition when it floods, making the soil mineral rich (Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Mass.gov)..
A wetland habitat, typically contains a low average canopy height and abundance of ground cover, primarily ferns and shrubs (ma habitat). The low canopy height influences bird habitat, as well as an higher canopy would. Canopy height height directly influences the nesting site potential of birds (ma habitat. Since a wetland has a low canopy, this dense forest layer provides potential nest sites because of its protective cover (ma - habitat). The protective cover of the thick vegetation, makes the habitat a good place to hide from predators, therefore ideal for birds to nest and lay