| |
Status of Breeding and Wintering Birds
in Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
Alison Banks, Charles van Riper III, Steven S. Rosenstock(1)
10 November 2002
USGS Southwest Biological Science Center
Colorado Plateau Field Station
PO Box 5614
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011
1 Arizona Game and Fish Dept., 2221 W. Greenway Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85023
Table 1. Bird survey transectsa
established in Petrified Forest National Park, 1998.
|
Transect Name |
General transect locationa |
Habitat typeb |
No. survey points |
Transect length (m) |
|
BLUE |
1 mi. up Blue Mesa road |
grassland |
10 |
2700 |
|
BOPI |
Borrow Pit at mile 8 |
shrub, grassland |
10 |
2250 |
|
DRYW |
Dry Wash at mile 16.5. |
wash, dunes, grassland |
8 |
1750 |
|
DUNE |
West at the Teepees |
dunes, badland |
11 |
2500 |
|
FLAT |
Northeast of the Flattops |
grassland, tall shrub, dunes, badland |
12 |
2750 |
|
NINE |
Cliff edge above Ninemile wash |
cliff-side, short-shrub |
7 |
1850 |
|
PINT |
Pintado Point |
juniper woodland, badland |
8 |
1750 |
|
PUER |
Puerco River |
riparian woodland |
10 |
2400 |
|
RAIN |
N of Rainbow Forest |
grassland |
10 |
2250 |
|
RT66 |
RT66 in the north end |
shrub, grassland |
13 |
3150 |
a.
Transect locations are described in more detail in Appendices I and II.
b.
Habitat types as designated on the 1964 vegetation map. Types are listed in
descending order of vegetation type. We refer to transects by the first
habitat type listed, except for FLAT, which we term mosaic.
Table 2.
Summary of vegetation characteristics by habitat type and transect, Petrified
Forest National Park, June 1999. See Appendix IV for vegetation measurement
protocol.
|
Habitat type |
Transect |
Percent ground cover |
Shrubs / ha |
Avg. shrub height (m) |
Plotsa |
|
Open |
Grass |
Shrub |
Short-shrub |
|
grassland |
BLUE |
60 |
34 |
1 |
3 |
118 |
.62 |
20 |
|
grassland |
RAIN |
52 |
42 |
1 |
3 |
274 |
.69 |
28 |
|
shrub |
RT66 |
42 |
42 |
4 |
6 |
526 |
.79 |
36 |
|
shrub |
BOPI |
48 |
34 |
4 |
7 |
967 |
.76 |
24 |
|
mosaic |
FLAT |
60 |
27 |
3 |
8 |
290 |
.62 |
48 |
|
wash |
DRYW |
67 |
14 |
3 |
12 |
913 |
.77 |
12 |
|
dunes, badland |
DUNE |
79 |
12 |
2 |
4 |
598 |
.67 |
25 |
|
cliff-side, short-shrub |
NINE |
77 |
10 |
2 |
12 |
113 |
.61 |
8 |
|
juniper woodland |
PINT |
76 |
2 |
12 |
10 |
1009 |
.82 |
23 |
|
riparian woodland |
PUER |
57 |
10 |
25 |
1 |
unavailb |
1.67 |
38 |
a
Total number of vegetation plots sampled per transect.
b
Distinct shrubs (of tamarisk and willow) were indistinguishable in riparian
habitat, shrub density was very high, as indicated by shrub percentage of
ground cover.
Table 3. Relative abundance of bird species in
Petrified Forest National Park, from all surveys, all transects, breeding and
winter seasons, 1998 and 1999 combined.
|
Speciesa |
No.
individuals |
Relative abundance |
No.
transectsb |
|
Horned Lark |
1370 |
1.00 |
9 |
|
Black-throated Sparrow |
257 |
.19 |
8 |
|
Rock Wren |
197 |
.14 |
6 |
|
Meadowlarksc |
142 |
.10 |
9 |
|
Cliff Swallow |
112 |
.08 |
2 |
|
Northern Mockingbird |
80 |
.06 |
5 |
|
Say=s Phoebe |
71 |
.05 |
9 |
|
Bushtit |
65 |
.05 |
2 |
|
Scaled Quail |
55 |
.04 |
6 |
|
House Finch |
54 |
.04 |
3 |
|
Mourning Dove |
52 |
.04 |
5 |
|
Brown-headed Cowbird |
48 |
.04 |
9 |
|
Loggerhead Shrike |
44 |
.03 |
9 |
|
Ash-throated Flycatcher |
42 |
.03 |
4 |
|
Common Raven |
34 |
.02 |
7 |
|
Sage Sparrow |
28 |
.02 |
5 |
|
Red-shafted Flicker |
19 |
.01 |
1 |
|
Western Kingbird |
19 |
.01 |
1 |
|
Common Nighthawk |
18 |
.01 |
3 |
|
Oregon Junco |
18 |
.01 |
1 |
|
Bullock=s Oriole |
|
