The Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius L.) is a bird living in big and continuous forests. In Ljubljana these forests are only in the mountain area. In the lowlands only smaller forests appear. The question is if forests in the lowlands are suitable for the presence of the black woodpecker. The inventory of black woodpecker presence for this graduation thesis was made during the spring of 2011. Fifty inventory plots were checked every month from March to May for its presence. The inventory method was play-back method. The black woodpeckerʼs sound was played at every inventory plot. Its response was considered as proof of its presence in that area. The aim of this study was to determine where the black woodpecker is present and how total growing stock, growing stock of deciduous and conifers, developmental phase of forest and canopy cover affect its presence. In the aspect of developmental phase we considered only optimal and reinitiation phase. In the aspect of canopy cover we considered only low canopy cover and gaps. Another aim was to determine how big the forest surface should be and how far from the original forest it should lie, that woodpecker is still present. Other birds that responded to the tape were checked and examined if these species exclude one another. The result was that the black woodpecker is common in some areas, but very rare or missing in others. Most common is in Rašica forests and absent in lowlands around Ljubljana. In small forest areas we did not find any specimen. All parameters of the study could not be proved, because of small differences in data and rare bird occurrence.
|