EFFECT OF CLEAR-CUT BORDERS ON DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF FOREST BIRDS IN NORTHERN NEW-HAMPSHIRE

We compared numbers of forest bird territories between forest edge and forest interior areas to determine whether clearcuts affect bird abun dance in adjacent forest. We then simulated the distribution of territ ories that would be expected if birds were neither attracted to nor re pelled by clearcut borders by randomly locating 100 1-ha circular ''si mulated'' territories on scale maps of the study plots, with the condi tion that simulated territories were located entirely within mature fo rest. Plots were divided into successive 50-m distance classes extendi ng from clearcut borders 300 m into forest interior, and the distribut ion of territories of each species among 50-m distance classes was com pared with the distribution of simulated territories. Red-eyed Vireos (Vireo olivaceus) and Hermit Thrushes (Catharus guttatus) were less ab undant in edge areas, but the distribution of these species did not di ffer from the distribution of randomly placed simulated territories. W e conclude that lower abundance of forest birds in edge areas is not n ecessarily evidence of edge avoidance but may be merely the result of the absence of suitable habitat beyond clearcut borders.