Successful restoration of degraded tropical lands will provide habitat not only for numerous resident species but also for migratory species. Neotropical migrant birds are a group of conservation concern because of their apparent vulnerability to habitat degradation on their nesting grounds, migratory routes, and wintering grounds. Thirteen restoration sites in southern Costa Rica were planted in 2004 through 2006 with four native or naturalized plant species in three treatments: 1) plantations where seedlings were planted in rows, 2) islands where seedlings were planted in patches, and 3) controls where seedlings were not planted. Sites were cleared of vegetation (aside from the planted seedlings) for the first two and a half years after planting so that seedlings could become established. We sampled Neotropical migrants in the sites in February and November 2006 and 2007. We also conducted behavioral observations of foraging migrants during 2007-2008 in one of the planted species, Inga edulis, in the plantation and island treatments. Our objectives were to 1) determine whether time since planting and planting treatment influenced the likelihood of Neotropical migrants being detected and 2) document the resources in Inga edulis that were used by Neotropical migrants.
Results/Conclusions
We detected 22 species of Neotropical migrants in the sites. The most commonly detected were the Tennessee warbler, Vermivora peregrina, the mourning warbler, Oporornis
