Riparian Bird Communities of the Great Plains

This file was created by scanning the printed publication. Errors identified by the software have been corrected; however, some errors may remain. RIPARIAN BIRD COMMUNITIES OF THE GREAT PLAINS Allen A. Tubbs Lecturer, Division of Biology Emporia State University Emporia, Kansas 66801 ABSTRACT One hundred thirty-six birds utililizing riparian communities in the Great Plains are identified and categorized. Breeding birds restricted to riparian vegetation may outnumber obligates of other grassland communities sevenfold. Sensitive and other decreasing species are discussed. Grazing, water diversion, and land conversion are the most destructive impacts in the region. Wood-harvesting in riparian habitat is an increasing and potentially disastrous practice. Research needs and management approaches are suggested. KEYWORDS: birds, riparian habitat, grasslands, management INTRODUCTION Riparian ecosystems have been found to be among the most productive and valuable wildlife habitats wherever they occur (Hubbard 1977, Sands and Howe 1977, Fitzgerald 1978, Schrupp 1978). Their importance for birds in the western United States has been well established (Carothers and Johnson 1975, Gaines 1977, Wauer 1977, Bull 1978). Riparian habitat is most critical in arid and semi-arid environments of the region. Coincidentally, these areas are under the greatest pressure from human activity, which unfortunately is rarely favorable to conserving such habitat and its avifauna. The riparian ecosystems of the Southwest have been particularly affected due to a large increase in the human population and its demands for water and other resources in the immediate environment and have received some recent ornithological attention (Johnson 1972, Carothers et al. 1974, Johnson and Jones 1977, Anderson and Ohmart 1979). Riparian bird communities of the Great Basin Desert and Great Plains have been less extensively studied (Beidleman 1954, Crouch 1961, Kindschy 1978). The intent of this paper is to examine the riparian portion of the Great Plains, identify and categorize its dependent avifauna, survey negative impacts on such habitat, and suggest ways to help manage these areas for birds. 419 Definition of Riparian Riparian habitat could be broadly defined to include all vegetation adjacent to water, however the scope of this consideration will concentrate on woody vegetation along drainage systems, flood plains, and on the banks of lakes and reservoirs of the interior grasslands. Marshes and potholes prevalent in the northern prairies are an integral part of those communities and should be more appropriately discussed in their management. Description of Area The Great Plains extends from southcentral Canada southward through the Dakotas, eastern Montana and Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, eastern Colorado, western Oklahoma, the panhandle of Texas, and northeastern New Mexico. The area covered by Johnsgard (1979) from 49° latitude south to the Red River separating Oklahoma and Texas, then west from the 95th meridian to the 104th will be treated here. This major portion of the extant plains encompasses 502,000 square miles, of which about 13 percent is deciduous hardwood forest (Johnsgard 1979). The bulk of this forest occurs as extensions of the eastern deciduous forest into the plains states. The quantity of riparian habitat in this vast expanse of grassland (much converted to agriculture) is hard to ascertain. Perhaps an indirect assumption of 1-3% based on Johnsgard's (1979) figure of 1% surface water and the known riparian vegetation of other western states would be a reasonable estimate. Exclusive of impoundments, Kuchler (1964) termed the hardwood dominated communities of a riparian nature across the Great Plains, the Northern Floodplain Forest. The rivers and streams of the western plains are bordered and dominated by cottonwood-willow (Populus-Salix) communities, while the eastern portions also support elm (Ulmus), oak (Quercus), hackberry (Celtis), green ash (Fraxinus), Kentucky coffee (Gy~adus), box elder (Acer), and other tree species. Avian communities of the cottonwood-willow river bottoms in eastern Colorado are among the few riparian ecosystems of the plains that have been studied from a conservation or management perspective (Beidleman 1954, Botorff 1974, Fitzgerald 1978). Other information generally must be gleaned from single species accounts, surveys, and breeding or winter bird counts. IDENTIFICATION AND ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF GRASSLAND RIPARIAN BIRDS One must know what species populations breed, migrate or winter in a particular avian community to manage it. The identification of grassland riparian birds is complicated by the fact most authors (Johnston 1964, Rising 1974, Johnsgard 1979) classify birds of the Great Plains states as woodland, limnic, or xeric (Table 1) and emphasize only breeding birds. Table 1. An ecological analysis of the breeding birds of the Great Plains. Woodland Limnic Grassland Xeric Misc. Total No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % Western Kansas 63 46 31 22 32 23 ---- 12 9 138 (Rising 1974) (combined) State of Kansas 101 58 36 21 23 13 3 2 11 6 174 (Johnston 1964) Great Plains 164 51 72 22 36 11 15 4 38 12 325 (Johnsgard 1979) 420 Breeding Birds Only woodland and limnic groups contain species that could be considered riprian. Birds of these two ecological affinities constitute 73% (236 sp.) of the 325 birds which have bred in the Great Plains at least once (Johnsgard 1979). Eleven per cent (36 sp.) are restricted to grassland per se, 4% (15 sp.) to xeric communi ties, and 12% (38 sp.) of a miscelleneous category. Many woodland species are not restricted to riparian habitat, e.g., American Kestrel, Bobwhite, Mourning Dove, Eastern Kingbird, Blue Grosbeak, whereas a few of the limnic types are obligate riparian nesters, e.g., herons, egrets, and Belted Kingfisher. Table 2 lists birds that commonly reside, breed, or winter in riparian vegetation in the Great Plains. Table 2. Riparian Birds of the Great Plains (Peterson 1947, Robbins et al. 1966, Johnsgard 1979) Year-round Residents Breeding only Winter only Great Blue Heron *Double-crested Cormorant Goshawk Wood Duck Great Egret Bald Eagle Common Merganser Snowy Egret MOuntain Chickadee Hooded Merganser Cattle Egret Red-breasted Nuthatch *Cooper's Hawk Little Blue Heron Brown Creeper *Sharp-shinned Hawk Green Heron Winter Wren Red-tailed Hawk *Black-crowned Night Heron Townsend's Solitaire Golden Eagle Yellow-crowned Night Heron Golden-crowned Kinglet Peregrine Falcon Turkey Vulture Ruby-crowned Kinglet *Merlin *Black Vulture Rusty Blackbird *American Kestrel Mississippi Kite Purple Finch Bobwhite American Woodcock Dark-eyed Junco Turkey Spotted Sandpiper Tree Sparrow Ring-necked Pheasant *Yellow-billed Cuckoo Harris' Sparrow Hourning Dove *Black-billed Cuckoo White-crowned Sparrow *Barn Owl Chuck-will's Widow White-throated Sparrow Screech Owl Whip-poor-will Fox Sparrow Great-Horned Owl *Ruby-throated Hummingbird Lincoln's Sparrow Barred Owl Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Swamp Sparrow Long-eared Owl Eastern Kingbird Saw-whet. Owl Western Kingbird Total - 19 Belted Kingfisher Great-crested Flycatcher Common Flicker Ash-throated Flycatcher Pileated Woodpecker Eastern Phoebe Red-bellied Woodpecker Willow Flycatcher Golden-fronted Woodpecker Acadian Flycatcher Ladder-backed Woodpecker Least Flycatcher *Red-headed Woodpecker Eastern Wood Pewee *Lewis' Woodpecker Western Wood Pewee Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Tree Swallow *Hairy Woodpecker *Purple Martin Downy Woodpecker House Wren Blue Jay Gray Catbird Black-billed Magpie Wood Thrush Common Crow Veery Black-capped Chickadee Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Carolina Chickadee Black-capped Vireo Tufted Titmouse White-eyed Vireo White-breasted Nuthatch *Bell's Vireo 421 *Bewick' s Wren Yellow-throated Vireo Carolina Wren Red-eyed Vireo Northern Mockingbird *Warbling Vireo Brown Thrasher Black and White Warbler American Robin Prothonotary Warbler *Eastern Bluebird *Yellow Warbler Cedar Waxwing Ovenbird European Starling Louisiana Waterthrush House Sparrow Common Yellowthroat Red-winged Blackbird *Yellow-breasted Chat Common Grackle Hooded Warbler Brown-headed Cowbird Kentucky Warbler Cardinal American Redstart Pine Siskin Orchard Oriole American Goldfinch Northern Oriole Rufous-sided Towhee Scarlet Tanager Song Sparrow Rose-breasted Grosbeak \· Black-headed Grosbeak 'Dotal - 56 Blue Grosbeak Indigo Bunting Lazuli Bunting Painted Bunting Total - 61 *Blue List (Arbib 1978) The 117 species listed as year-round or breeding only, account for 45% of the 260 regular breeders Johnsgard (1979) documented for the region. Eastern deciduous forest species that normally don't venture out onto the plains, even via the flood plain corridors, or only rarely breed in the region (e.g., Red-shouldered Hawk, Golden-winged warbler, Evening Grosbeak) are not included in this compilation. It should be noted that 51% of the birds occupying the primarily grassland communities (which cover over 80% of the land area) are woodland or forest species (Table 1). This is an impressive statistic as woodlands and forests account for only about 15% of the Great Plains surface area. Johnston (1964) reported 58% of the birds of Kansas to be of a woodland habitat affinity and listed 21 species of eastern decid uous forest birds which occur in western Kansas only along river drainages. Rising (1974) stated "the majority of birds that breed or probably breed in western Kansas could be ecologically classified as woodland". The presence of these woodland birds in the plains is almost completely

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