Resilient Habitat for Forest Birds: The Role of Baraboo Hills Topography in Moderating Spring Phenology

The Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance is proud to present this Maia Persche talk as part of their fall/winter public presentation series about the Sauk Prairie Area. The Baraboo Hills and the Driftless Area have been identified as landscapes that may be resilient to the effects of climate change because their complex topography and habitat in the coming decades. But what does this mean for the forest songbirds that rely on this habitat? Small-scale variations in topography can influence the pace of spring tree leaf-out, the seasonality of invertebrates and ultimately the quality of habitat available to forest birds. Drawing from two summers of fieldwork, Maia will describe how her research suggests that the Baraboo Hills could be a stronghold for bird species in the future.