In early May 2007, northern Utah mountains experienced a period of prolonged warmer-than-normal temperatures, followed by a frost that killed or damaged much of the first-flush quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) foliage. We assessed the effects of this transitory disturbance on the aspen bird species assemblage by comparing breeding bird survey data collected in the Bear River Mountain Range, Utah, USA, in 2005 and 2006 (predisturbance) to data from 2007 (postdisturbance). Whereas bird total abundance, species richness, and species diversity did not differ significantly among years, there were significant year-by—frost damage severity interactions, with plots with low levels of frost damage having significantly higher total abundance, richness, and diversity. Based on these results, we concluded that (1) at the landscape scale, the postdisturbance avian species assemblage was essentially identical to the predisturbance assemblage both in terms of number of individuals and species, and (2) there was a pronounced shift in the spatial distribution of birds at the stand scale, with most individuals favoring stands with low levels of frost damage over those with intermediate and high levels of frost damage. Thus, aspen stands with little or no frost damage served as refugia for birds displaced from highly impacted sites, thereby buffering any adverse effects on the avian community as a whole, at least in the short term. However, with severe climatic events predicted to become more frequent, cumulative effects of successive frost-induced defoliations on long-term avian productivity and survival may be more severe.