Building for Birds

Introduction

The goal of the building for birds online tool is to provide decision makers with a way to evaluate different development scenarios and how they affect habitat for different species of forest birds that can use fragmented areas. This evaluation tool should primarily be used for situations where the development footprint is relatively small and/or occurs in already fragmented landscapes.

Thus, no opportunity is available to conserve large forest areas that are 125 acres or more. Often, when land is subdivided, it costs time and money to conserve forest fragments and to conserve trees in residential/commercial areas, but there is value for many different species of forest birds. Forest fragments and trees conserved in built areas can serve as breeding, wintering, and stopover habitat for a variety of species..

A variety of bird species utilize habitat in and around urban areas. To determine bird habitat scores as a result of different development designs, one simply enters the amount of conserved forest fragments and conserved tree canopy cover in built areas. From these inputs, one can obtain a report for a particular scenario, containing a score for each of the bird habitat categories and a list of birds that could be found in each of these habitats. Go to the tool and follow the 5 steps!

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