Bird Habitat Relationships Along a Great Basin Elevational Gradient

Book excerpt: Bird censuses were taken on 11 study plots along an elevational gradient ranging from 5,250 to 11,400 feet. Each plot represented a different vegetative type or zone: shadscale, shadscale-Wyoming big sagebrush, Wyoming big sagebrush, Wyoming big sagebrush-pinyon/juniper, pinyon/juniper, pinyon/juniper-mountain big sagebrush, mountain big sagebrush, mountain big sagebrush-mixed conifer, mixed conifer, mixed conifer-alpine, and alpine. Eighty-nine bird species were observed. The total number of birds and bird species followed a skewed bell-shaped distribution. Some birds were quite narrow in their choice of vegetative zones while others showed very little selectivity. Both total number of individual birds and bird species appeared to reach highest values in study plots with a substantial component of mountain big sagebrush.