The human destruction of North American wetlands in the last 200 years has greatly reduced wading bird habitat availability. To best protect wading birds, wetland conservation efforts should include management supporting optimal conditions for wading birds, especially given their role as top predators in these ecosystems. The goal of our study was to better understand habitat selection patterns among wading bird species with regard to snags (including woody debris), emergent vegetation (EV), submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), and water depth. This study was conducted at Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve located in Huron, Ohio, which is jointly managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Wildlife. Data were collected using twelve game cameras, each programmed to take a picture every five minutes and by conducting active survey transects in the morning, afternoon, and evening twice weekly from 24 June to 1 October 2015.
Results/Conclusions
We found that snags are critical components for wading bird habitats, particularly in systems undergoing frequent water level fluctuations because of the positive correlation between water depth and snag use (r2 = 0.43; p < 0.001). Further, both great blue herons (Ardea herodias) and great egrets (Ardea alba) use tall, dense emergent vegetation less frequently than other types of emergent vegetation or open water (p = 0.005 and p = 0.03, respectively). Finally, submerged aquatic vegetation does not appear to influence wading bird habitat selection. As such, we make three primary recommendations for the maintenance, management, and improvement of wetland habitats for use by wading bird species: 1) maintain existing snags in wetlands and supplement additional snags of varying size and location; 2) remove, reduce, or eradicate tall, densely growing, exotic invasive species of EV to increase habitat availability for wading birds; and 3) allow SAV to grow naturally to serve as cover for invertebrates and fish, potentially allowing for increased use by wading birds.