Elevation Ranges of Birds at Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park Complex, and Olympic National Park, Washington

Abstract

We used avian point-count data collected from 4030 survey stations at Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park Complex, and Olympic National Park between 2001 and 2004 to describe observed elevation ranges of 74 bird species in the parks. Detailed elevation range information based on systematic sampling is essential for monitoring the effects of climate change on taxa whose ranges are likely to shift. Existing characterizations of the elevation ranges of Pacific Northwest birds are based primarily on anecdotal observations and professional opinion rather than systematic surveys. Here we analyze a systematically collected data set to describe the elevation ranges of common bird species in 3 large wilderness parks in Washington. These descriptions will facilitate future assessments of shifts in elevation ranges. More immediately, they will provide managers of more intensively managed lands outside the parks with reference information about elevational distributions of bird species from more-pristine park ecosystems.