Abstract
Secretive marsh bird habitat associations in the Mississippi Flyway: a meta-analysis
Highlights
North America has experienced extensive wetland habitat loss over the past two centuries (Dahl 1990, Brinson and Malvárez 2002), contributing to population declines for many wetlanddependent avian species (Morrison et al 1994, Tozer 2016, Sauer et al 2020)
Wetland habitat conservation efforts have predominantly focused on waterfowl (Family Anatidae) and contributed to restoration of substantial wetland habitat area in North America (North American Waterfowl Management Plan 2012, U.S Fish and Wildlife Service 2018), but other wetland-dependent birds are often ignored in restoration efforts
The number of habitat variables we examined varied by species, with few habitat variables for King Rail (3) and Yellow Rail (4), but considerably more for American Bittern (13), Least Bittern (17), Sora (16) and Virginia Rail (15; Table 3)
Summary
North America has experienced extensive wetland habitat loss over the past two centuries (Dahl 1990, Brinson and Malvárez 2002), contributing to population declines for many wetlanddependent avian species (Morrison et al 1994, Tozer 2016, Sauer et al 2020). Migratory avian species that use interior portions of North America throughout their life cycle, such as secretive marsh birds, have likely been acutely affected by wetland habitat loss. Some secretive marsh bird species have experienced widespread population declines (Tozer 2016, Sauer et al 2020), while other species’ rarity and secretive nature precludes determination of their population trajectory. North America’s Mississippi Flyway contains critical habitat for several species of secretive marsh birds throughout their annual cycle. Breeding grounds for most of these species are located in the upper Midwest and Prairie Pothole regions, but the remainder of the Flyway provides critical migration and wintering habitats (Huschle et al 2013, Fournier et al 2017, Leston and Bookhout 2020)
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