Assessing golden‐winged warbler dispersal habitat in a highly parcelized landscape

Abstract

Golden‐winged warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera) are facing population declines in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Breeding habitat loss is considered one of the primary reasons for golden‐winged warbler declines in the region. Expanding breeding habitat availability in a manner that promotes population expansion across an interconnected network of habitat patches is particularly problematic in a landscape dominated by private land ownership. We assessed the connectivity of golden‐winged warbler breeding habitat in a 29,680‐ha landscape with 5,664 ownership parcels between 2 state‐owned game lands in northwestern North Carolina, USA, in fall 2021. We created a connectivity map and provided examples of 3 means of prioritizing parcels for golden‐winged warbler habitat maintenance and management based on dispersal distances of fledglings that could return the following spring with prior familiarity of potential nesting areas. Prioritized parcels can guide land acquisition and conservation easement development as well as active management. Despite being highly parcelized, the area has both well‐connected and disjointed clusters of core habitat patches, but habitat management on privately owned parcels would be needed to connect core habitat patches to enable dispersing golden‐winged warbler fledglings to encounter potential breeding habitat that they could use the following spring.