Landowner perceptions and activities related to birds across rural-to-urban landscapes

Fluctuations of bird abundances in the Eastern and Midwest regions of the United States have been attributed to such factors as supplemental feeding, landscape fragmentation, and depredation. Underlying these factors, but notably absent from consideration, is the role of private landowners. To investigate how landowners perceive and may influence birds, we surveyed all similar to1,700 private landowners living on three North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) routes (similar to120 linear km) in Southeastern Michigan, USA, that represent a continuum of rural-to-urban landscapes. Our survey assessed both the landowners' perceptions about birds and the activities in which they were engaged. Of the 969 (59% response rate) respondents, the typical landowner indicated that the number of birds frequenting their property had increased over time and that having bird diversity on their property was very important. Large numbers of landowners engaged in activities assumed to have positive effects on birds: feeding birds (66%), providing bird houses (46%), and maintaining vegetation specifically for birds (54%). A substantial minority, however, engaged in activities with negative implications for birds: 49% applied fertilizer on their land, 25% applied pesticides or herbicides on their land, and 26% of landowners had outdoor house cats. While 95% of landowners were engaged in at least one activity that had possible implications for bird numbers, the average landowner was only slightly willing to change their land use practices for the benefit of birds. Overall, landowners who had more favorable perceptions of birds also tended to engage in a significantly greater number of activities that could have positive effects on birds. Interestingly, however, landowners' perceptions of birds were largely unrelated to whether they engaged in activities with negative implications for birds or not. Across the three landscapes there were significant differences in landowner perceptions and activities. Our results indicate that landowners tend to perceive birds positively, but are engaged in a wide variety of positive and negative activities that both intentionally and unintentionally have profound influences on birds at the landscape scale.