Bird
Habitat
A bird’s habitat is the area it might call home.
In its habitat the bird must find those things necessary
for its life: Food, Water and Shelter (nesting site). Many bird species co-exist in a
single habitat. If
they all have similar feeding and nesting requirements they must compete with
each other to fulfill their needs. If they are
adapted to distinctive habitat requirements, then
different species could live together without conflicts.
The forest in this region of Southern
Ontario is recognized as a maple-beech forest. A great variety of trees, shrubs, and
herbaceous plants are found in this habitat. Birds have a great
variety of food from which to choose. The maple-beech
forest has within it a large number of smaller habitats
including meadows and woodlots.
Birds will seek out food from many different habitats. A meadow provides insects
for food and grasses for lining a nest. Woodlots can
provide sticks and twigs for a nest platform as well as seeds and cover from predators.
Your opportunity to spot birds is greatest at the edges of two such
habitats.
There are many species of birds in each habitat zone of maple-beech
forest. Because of the different nest designs, choice of materials for
building, height from the ground, available food sources and mating
times, most species can live in relative harmony. Birds continue
to expand their habitat options. As our climate continues to
change, birds are less inclined to migrate, since their food source is
more assured. It is not known what this will mean for the survival
of some of our unique and highly specialized bird species. It
could result in more birds having to compete for the same food source or
the best nesting site. It could mean the extinction of certain species.
Time and research will provide us with more answers in the future.
In the meantime, continue to feed two birds with one seed, but don't
count your chickadees till they hatch!
Further Reading Godfrey, W. Earl -The
Birds of Canada, Ministry of Supply Services, Ottawa,
1966 Harrison, Hal H -A Field Guide to Birds’ Nests,
Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1975 Weety, Joel Carl
-The Life of the Birds, W.B. Saunders Co., Toronto, 1975
Down To Earth 
