Use of an acoustic location system to understand how presence of conspecifics and canopy cover influence Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla) space use near reclaimed wellsites in the boreal forest of Alberta

Standard approaches in acoustic monitoring provide coarse information for understanding songbird behavior, abundance, and habitat use. An alternative approach, acoustic localization, determines accurate bird singing locations from time of arrival differences of songs to microphones in an array. The need to collect spatially accurate data on songbirds is necessary to understand impacts of disturbances characteristic of energy extraction such as wellsites, and how these impacts change following reclamation. Our objective was to use acoustic localization to determine if Ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapilla) used reclaimed wellsites, and how this behavior changed as a function of canopy cover on wellsites and the presence of conspecifics. We estimated the number of individuals present at each site based on previous data on Ovenbird singing and movement rates. Our hypotheses that use of wellsites by Ovenbirds should increase with increasing canopy cover on the wellsite, and decrease with presence of conspecifics were supported. Technological advances in this method could provide an alternative to conventional methods like territory or spot mapping in the future, when used in combination with other types of data collection.