Wood Thrush Quadrupled at this Hudson Valley Sanctuary

A walk in the woods has a different meaning at Stand 13 at the Rheinstrom Hill Audubon Sanctuary – getting hit by branches is a sign of success! This stand used to have a severe lack of biodiversity, very little understory, and an invasion of Barberry. It was mainly unhealthy white pine and striped maple.

Today, the Wood Thrush population has quadrupled, and the diversity of tree, shrub, and other plant species has tripled. Twenty-seven bird species have been detected that weren’t in the area before.

Stand 13 looks and sounds drastically different from the woods around it because of three bird-friendly forestry actions: In 2014-2015, a cut was conducted across the full 2.5-acre area, the invasive Barberry was treated so it could not regenerate, and a seven-foot-tall deer fence was installed to protect all new growth.

Because of this, no additional plants needed to be added. Time, sun, and protection from deer all created successful conditions for regrowth. Oak trees, hickory, maple, wild basil, grape, and wildflowers arose naturally from the seed bank (the natural storage of live seeds hidden in leaf litter or within the dirt). A healthy forest was just waiting to explode back to life!

Like so many of today’s northeastern forests, Stand 13 was around 50-90 years old, having grown back after the area was cleared and utilized as farmland. Mr. Rheinstrom, the previous owner, had partially replanted the property beginning in the 1930s– but planting happened all at once, and mostly in rows that were too close together. This meant there was a real lack of age diversity and no understory.

When Audubon acquired the property in the 1990s, it did not provide suitable habitat for a full suite of forest-breeding birds. With that goal in mind, we created a forest stewardship plan and began creating demonstration sites like Stand 13 to show how different bird-friendly forestry practices create healthy habitat.

We conduct bird and vegetation surveys at all our demonstration sites twice a year, at the same exact points within the stand. As Stand 13 transitioned from clearing to young forest to more mature forest area, we surveyed Eastern Towhee, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Ovenbirds, and Chestnut-sided Warblers, amongst others.

Surveys also showed that saplings inside the fence grew four times faster than outside, invasive species remain negligible, and as stated above, the Wood Thrush population quadrupled! 

In 2024, ten years in, we took one final action and removed the deer fence. Deer still avoid the area due to the density, because they have other easier places to forage.

Stand 13 is on a publicly-accessibly trail at the Rheinstrom Hill Audubon Sanctuary in Hillsdale, NY. We welcome all visitors year-round and recommend checking our event calendar for staff-led tours of the forest demonstration sites.