URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Spring_2015_Melissa-McCarthy

Natural Rhythms Natural Systems

by Mary Grady

Scott McWilliams Professor, Natural Resources Science

It’s easy to take birds for granted. Birds are everywhere, but we don’t always notice them; they fly by on the edge of our awareness. But for Scott McWilliams, professor of Natural Resources Science at the University of Rhode Island (URI), the study of birds provides a pathway into discovering how ecosystems work, how human activities affect natural resources, and ultimately, how our choices shape the future of our planet. The American woodcock, a small, round bird with brownish plumage that inhabits scrubby forests, is best known for its odd countenance — a long thin beak and big round eyes are an unusual mix — and its eccentric mating behavior. In the springtime, the males seek out a clearing in the woods and dazzle prospective mates with a spiraling flight, climbing up to 300 feet in tight circles, buzzing and chirping all the way. “Woodcock populations in Rhode Island have declined precipitously over the last 100 years,” says McWilliams, citing human transformation of the landscape as the primary cause. “If you think of what our state looked like 100 years ago, there were lots of farms and fields here, and the woodcocks love that. The population did really well with early settlement.” But fast-forward through the last century, and those farms and fields have vanished, replaced by a thick uniform forest, a habitat less appealing to the woodcocks.

“We put tracking transmitters on woodcocks to learn how management of the forest affects them,” says McWilliams. “Woodcocks clearly prefer to inhabit forests that are early in their growth, five to 20 years old, and this type of young forest habitat is now relatively rare. We also found that the woodcock can be considered an ‘umbrella species’ in the sense that when you manage for woodcocks, other birds also will thrive.”

The woodcock studies are conducted in collaboration with the Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife, and have led to statewide initiatives to better manage woodlands for wildlife. McWilliams and his team mapped the young forests for the whole state and are now working with all

nanotag tracking device

the parties involved in land conservation, including local land trusts, to produce a statewide plan. This work will be continuing over the next five years.

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