Effects of residual tree retention of breeding songbirds in Alberta's boreal mixed-wood forest

Residual tree retention has been proposed as a potential tool in the conservation of forest songbirds in logged landscapes. I censused songbirds in forested and logged sites in Alberta's boreal mixed-wood to investigate the effects of densities of residual trees varying from 10 to 133 trees/ha on songbird abundance and used artificial nests to investigate nest predation in the third year post-logging. I compared census data to data collected in the first year post-logging. Although forest songbirds were more abundant in forested than logged sites in both years, there were changes in species responses between years. There were few differences among forest species between sites with varying densities of residual trees. Nest predation did not differ among sites or stands adjacent to sites with varying densities of residual trees. In the third year post-logging, most forest songbirds were not affected by densities of residual trees varying within the range measured.