Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Forest and Rangeland Birds of the United States

Natural History and Habitat Use

Richard M. DeGraaf¹, Virgil E. Scott², R. H. Hamre³, Liz Ernst⁴, and Stanley H. Anderson⁵

Using This Book

This book is designed to provide managers with information on the assemblage of bird species that might be expected in forest and rangeland habitats.

In the first section, natural histories are provided for each bird species, including taxonomic information, range and status, habitat descriptions, nest site descriptions, and food habits. These natural histories thus provide a short review of the pertinent information on each species necessary for intial evaluation of management practices for a particular area. The illustrations in the publication are reproduced from BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA by Robbins et al., illustrated by Arthur Singer, © 1983, 1966 Western Publishing Company, Inc., and are used by permission. Nomenclature, distribution, and taxonomic order follow the American Ornithologists' Union (1983).

After the natural history information, a series of matrices list bird species that either breed or winter in 20 forest cover types and 24 rangeland, desert, and other nonforest habitats.

The authors believe this guide can provide a basic source of data to assist land managers in ecologically sound management of resources.

Editor's Note: Permission to reproduce photos and illustrations for the web version was denied.

This resource is based on the following source:

DeGraaf, Richard M., Virgil E. Scott, R.H. Hamre, Liz Ernst, and Stanley H. 
     Anderson.  1991.  Forest and rangeland birds of the United States natural 
     history and habitat use.  U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 
     Agriculture Handbook 688.  625pp.

This resource should be cited as:

DeGraaf, Richard M., Virgil E. Scott, R.H. Hamre, Liz Ernst, and Stanley H. 
     Anderson.  1991.  Forest and rangeland birds of the United States natural 
     history and habitat use.  U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 
     Agriculture Handbook 688.  Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online.  
     http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/1998/forest/forest.htm
     (Version 03NOV98).

Introduction
- Distribution of Birds in the United States
- Importance of Vegetation Structure
- Forest and Rangeland Management
  - Deciduous forests
  - Coniferous forests
  - Rangeland habitats
- Acknowledgments
Natural History, By Species
Bird/Cover Type Matrices
- Eastern Forest Types
- Eastern Nonforest Habitats
- Great Plains Habitats
- Western Forest Types
- Southwestern and Western Nonforest Habitats
Tables
- Table 1 - Birds Occuring in Eastern Forest Types
- Table 2 - Birds Occuring in Eastern Nonforest Habitats (exclusive of Great Plains)
- Table 3 - Birds Occuring in Great Plains Habitats
- Table 4 - Birds Occuring in Western Forest Types
- Table 5 - Birds Occuring in Southwestern and Western Nonforest Habitats
Literature Cited A-K
Literature Cited L-Z

¹Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, USDA Forest Service, Amherst, Massachusetts
²Denver Wildlife Research Center, USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Fort Collins, Colorado
³Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, USDA Forest Service, Fort Collins, Colorado
⁴Denver Wildlife Research Center, USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Fort Collins, Colorado
⁵Wyoming Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming

Downloading Instructions -- Instructions on downloading and extracting files from this site.

forest.zip (810K bytes) -- Forest and Rangeland Birds of the United States

Installation: Extract all files and open forest.htm in a web browser.

Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Forest and Rangeland Birds of the United States

Natural History and Habitat Use

Using This Book

Table of Contents