Data from: Can patterns of habitat use by western Nearctic-Neotropical migratory landbirds in winter inform conservation priorities?

<p>ABSTRACT—I use point-count survey data collected from 171 locations across 11 vegetation conditions in western Mexico to illustrate common patterns of winter habitat use by 97 Nearctic-Neotropical migratory landbird species.  A number of bird species are relatively restricted in their habitat use, with some [e.g., Northern Waterthrush (<i>Parkesia noveboracensis</i>), American Redstart (<i>Setophaga ruticilla</i>)] occurring only in relatively undisturbed habitats, and others [e.g., Say's Phoebe (<i>Sayornis saya</i>), Horned Lark (<i>Eremophila alpestris</i>)] occurring only in relatively disturbed lands associated with agriculture.  A large number of bird species [e.g., Cassin's Vireo (<i>Vireo cassinii</i>), MacGillivray's Warbler (<i>Geothlypis tolmiei</i>)] use every one of the vegetation types considered, from low-elevation tropical deciduous forests to high-elevation conifer forests.  Bird species showing patterns of restricted habitat use deserve conservation attention, but so might more broadly distributed species that become significantly less abundant in human-altered habitats.  Identifying the latter will require the inclusion of a wider spectrum of altered vegetation types/conditions than what I included here, or than what is typically considered in wildlife-habitat relationship programs.</p>