Songbirds and Wolfpits Preserve
Wolfpits Preserve is the Bethel Land Trust’s largest preserve. At 92-acres, it is comprised of woodlands and some wetlands, through which the Wolfpit Brook flows.
In developing our Wolfpits Preserve Management Plan, we have been interested in the ecological health of our Preserve. Connecticut woodlands are threatened by fragmentation from development, lack of age diversity and invasive plant species.
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Diverse forest age structure provides habitat for birds. To better understand the health of our Wolfpits Preserve and, in particular, the health of our songbird diversity, we contacted Audubon Connecticut. Thanks to funding from the US Forest Service, Audubon Connecticut’s Forest Bird Initiative is collaborating with landowners located on the Atlantic Fly (a bird migration route) who wish to protect and enhance habitat for breeding forest birds on the properties they own.
On May 18th, A Habitat Assessment was conducted at Wolfpits Preserve. I accompanied a forester, Eric Hansen, and an ornithologist, Corrie Folsom-O’Keefe, for a two-hour walk through both our forested area and wetlands. During our walk, another forester, Jeff Ward and two assistants conducted a timber cruise, in which they laid out a grid over a map of the preserve, identified sample plot points and then headed out with a compass to examine the preserve from a series of predetermined points. What Jeff and his assistants would be looking at is the species, size and diversity of the trees in both the woodlands and wetland areas.
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In general, my two-hour walk with Eric and Corrie revealed that our Wolfpist Preserve has a few common issues: the lack of understory due to deer, and the presence of invasive plants, primarily barberry and burning bush. Thrillingly, Corrie identified 26 different species of songbirds, visually or by their calls. Red-eyed Vireo, Louisiana Woodthrush and Scarlet Tanager were among them.
A final report of the ecological health of Wolfpits habitat will be provided late fall. In the meantime, this is a wonderful time of the year to visit our Wolfpits Preserve and catch a glimpse of or to listen to the songbirds that call Bethel their home.
