.

Ecology & Global Change

April 24, 2007

Jessie Bluvias & Kristin DeMarco

Birds

Red-cockaded woodpecker

This southeastern endemic is currently endangered in North Carolina due primarily to the loss of habitat. Red-cockaded woodpeckers nest solely in living longleaf pine cavities in fire-dependent ecosystems bordering both fresh and salt water systems in the NC coastal plain (Kaufman, 1996; Sibley, 2001). As fires have been suppressed due to development and longleaf pine overharvested, these cooperative breeders have lost much of their nesting habitat since the 1800s. As temperatures increase due to climate change, the connectivity and integrity of established red-cockaded woodpecker reserves in North and South Carolina will presumably be altered, although exactly how is uncertain.

Bachman’s sparrow

Bachman’s sparrow in Long leaf pine managed forest stand at the Wade Tract Reserve in Georgia

Previously called the Pine woods sparrow, this species occupies much of the same habitat as the Red-cockaded woodpecker and is found in longleaf pine forests of the south. This species is considered rare and is classified as a federal species of concern; their range shrinking markedly since the early 1900s (Kaufman, 1996). Often, lands that are managed for red-cockaded woodpeckers are considered to be beneficial for Bachman’s sparrow populations.

Wood stork

http://www.amazonian-fish.co.uk/images/wood_stork.jpg

The Wood stork is the only native species of stork in North America and can be found in freshwater systems including hardwood swamps and marshes (Kaufman, 1996). Currently considered federally endangered, this odd looking wading bird used to number in the hundred thousands, their recent decline resultant from the accumulation of pesticides and the loss of habitat (Sibley, 2001). In addition, recent observed northward shifts in Wood stork population may be indicative of a climatic change along the southeast; a warming trend that is assuredly compounded by habitat loss.

Black throated green warbler

The Black throated green warbler is just one of North America’s many diverse wood warblers that are declining. The decline of this species has rendered it of federal concern, particularly because it is historically known as an abundant breeder; males can be seen chasing each other through the sparse underbrush of coniferous forests in the southeast. In the Carolinas, however, black throated green warblers are frequently found in Carolina Bays and in areas with the now rare Atlantic white cedar (Cely, 2006). Logging of southeastern forests and nest parasitism from the Brown-headed cowbird are largely responsible for the decline of this species (Kaufman, 1996).

Piping plover

http://www.conservationsupportnetwork.org/images/piping_plover_big.jpg

Considered federally threatened in North Carolina, these small shorebirds utilize the entire width of North Carolina’s barrier islands, nesting near the dunes and foraging for food from the higher elevation duneline to the edge of the water (USFWS, 2002). Indirect effects on species reproduction is attributed to habitat destruction in coastal areas; buildings and roads, but unlike many other species the Piping plover is subject to loss in numbers as a direct result of human activity. Piping plovers experience intense competition with humans in much of their breeding areas and are increasingly coming in direct contact with humans as a result of the highly mobile foraging behavior of adults and chicks (Burger, 1994).

http://www.loe.org/thisweek/030606plover.jpg

As populations have increased along the NC Outer Banks, so have vehicular traffic and the use of off-road vehicles on the beach. As cars pass, chicks and eggs are crushed under the tires or become trapped while foraging for food in the deep tire ruts left in the sand, and adults are sometimes run over (NPS, 2004).

Roseate tern

http://www.njaudubon.org/Centers/SHBO/Images/Rarities/RosTern-large.jpg

Potentially the most vulnerable of all tern species, the Roseate tern is considered federally endangered in both the US and Canada, numbering in the thousands and restricted to only four breeding colonies (Sibley, 2001). Initially, decreasing population numbers may have been caused by hunting for the plume trade but more recently habitat loss and expanding populations of Herring gulls have become more of a threat (Kaufman, 1996). In North Carolina, Roseate terns are rare visitors to the offshore waters and have not been known to nest here (USFWS, 2003), but it is thought that if the species undergoes a range expansion that NC could become a future breeding site (NCNHP, 1998).

Painted bunting

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/publications/birdscope/Summer2002/images/painted-bunting.jpg

Painted buntings are found in woody scrub-shrub habitats that occur on the higher elevations of barrier islands and thickets of wooded areas near semi-open areas (Kaufman, 1996). Breeding Bird Surveys have indicated a significant decline in the east coast where it is limited island habitats, many of which are undergoing intense development pressures (Sibley, 2001). Fragmentation of the Painted buntings’ preferred woody habitat has created a great deal of edge environment; consequently increasingly brood parasitism by Brown-headed cowbirds (Hunter, 2006). It is also hypothesized that global warming may have an exacerbated effect on the breeding patterns of NC Painted buntings, as they breed late in the summer season, a time most sensitive to climate change (Price & Glick, 2002).