The Atlantic Flyway

Urban Oasis Program

Even tiny patches of woods in urban areas seem to provide adequate food and protection for some species of migrating birds as they fly between wintering and breeding grounds, new research from Ohio State University has found.

The results are important because, with the expansion of cities worldwide, migrating landbirds increasingly must pass through vast urban areas which offer very little of the forest habitats on which many species rely.

Birds in the study seemed to be finding enough food in even the smaller urban habitats to refuel and continue their journey,

The results point to the value of Audubon’s Urban Oasis program and its implementation in New Haven as part of the New Haven Harbor Watershed Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership. The habitat enhancements in Beaver Pond, West River Memorial, Dover Beach, and East Shore Parks and the promise of future native species planting, as well as the plans to assist homeowners in converting yards to wildlife habitat will improve the opportunities of migrating birds to find areas to rest and refuel.

And as one of only four Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnerships, New Haven can serve as a model for other cities along the Atlantic Flyway to create their own urban oases.

(More details in the Ohio State Research can be found at http://goo.gl/kr0Ewy.)

(From the January 2014 newsletter.)