Phil Unitt, Collection Manager of Birds at the San Diego Natural History Museum, is leading an effort to monitor bird recovery after the 2002 Pines Fire and 2003 Cedar Fire.  Funds are provided by the Joint Fire Sciences program and by the Cleveland National Forest.  Results have been compiled, from the fourth winter after the 2002 Pines Fire, and third winter after the 2003 Cedar Fire. It was somewhat complicated by the wet winter in 2004-05, with more vigorous plant growth and probably a more successful breeding season for many resident birds; more seeds produced by the vegetation, increasing the food supply for seed-eating birds this past winter; and a mild, dry weather enabling more birds to remain in the study area than would have done so in an average year.  Thirty species have increased over the 4 years, including Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, California Quail, “Wild” Turkey, Greater Roadrunner, Hairy Woodpecker, Say’s Phoebe, Loggerhead Shrike, Steller’s Jay, Wrentit, European Starling, and more.  Note that the kestrel, quail, roadrunner, phoebe, shrike, and starling are all species that forage on open ground, so they may be species taking advantage of successional habitat.  The Hairy Woodpecker in the Cuyamaca sites increased, the only species of woodpecker clearly taking advantage of dead burned trees.  The data was analyzed by means of chi-squared tests, looking for trends over the 4 winters of the study within the burned area and comparing those trends to those along the control routes. 

Year One Study

Year Two Study