Summary

Description

This report investigates the effects of burning and mowing on the grassland breeding bird community of Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in central Iowa. Two regions on the refuge were studied in this report Area A and Area B, each of which were treated with identical plantings. Area A had not been burned, and one region of it was mowed in the spring. Area B had not been mowed, and one region of it was burned in the spring before bird censusing. Many of the avian species present in area A preferred the unmowed region to the mowed region. Of the species present in Area B, the Dickcissel preferred the burned region. The two unmowed, unburned regions in area A and B show significant differences in abundance in five of thirteen species.