Pocosin Breeding Bird Fauna

P0c0sinbreeding bird fauna Widely recognized for their unique botanical nature, little study has been done on pocosin avifauna. David S. Lee systemsand/or adjacent to estuarine from an Algonquin Indian term systems.Such mixed areas often pro- HE"poquosin"WORD POCOSIN and is oneORIGINATED of the few vide a rich mosaic of wetland habitats Algonquin words used by European involvingbroad zonesof transitionand settlers. Pocosin habitats are defined complex successionalpatterns. Exten- vath difficulty since considerablecon- siveareas called pocosins by naturalists fusion persistsin the use of the term. and environmentalistsare, in fact, often Nevertheless,it is obviouslycritical to composedof swamp forest, hardwood definethese habits accuratelyif mean- or evergreenshrub bog have been used forest, and marshes.Although there lngful habitat comparisonsare to be to describepocosin vegetation types. seemsto be no comprehensivebotanical made. Tooker (1899) provided detailed The term "bay" is particularly con- definition of pocosinmost researchers discussionon the origin, meaning,and fusing becauseit refers to a number agreethat pocosinsare characterizedby usageof the word, and somerecent au- of moderately advanced successional Pond Pine and denseevergreen shrub thors have credited him as translating stages of Southeastern wetlands that vegetationgrowing on deep peat or pocosin as "swamp on a hill." While support several speciesof bay trees sandypeat soilswith protractedhydro- th•s is an interestinginterpretation of (Sweetbay,Redbay, and Loblolly-bay), periods. the word, it was never defined as such whereasthe term Carolina bay, partly Although pocosins are currently by Tooker.In tracingout the earlyusage named for the presenceof bay trees,re- communities of major interest to en- of the term, both.by Native Americans fers to elliptical depressionsthat may vironmentalistsand are widely recog- and early settlers,Tooker found that support pocosin vegetation. Carolina nizedfor theirunique botanical nature, "pocosin"referred to a wide variety of bays, which are permanent geological few havebeen intensivelystudied flor- low wet areas extending from New features,are often specificallynamed istically.Wells (1946) provideda gen- England through the Carolinas. It was sites(i.e., Wolf Bay in BladenCounty), eralbotanical analysis of Holly Shelter's locally usedinterchangeably with "dis- but bay forestsare successionalstages pocosins(Pender County, North Car- mals" and "galls"by Europeansettlers of wetlands.Likewise, there are many olina) andKologiski (1977) investigated to describeswampy thickets. areason mapsnamed pocosin (i.e. Light the vegetative communities of the Geologists, hydrologists, botanists, Ground Pocosinin Pamlico County), Green Swamp (Brunswick County, ecologists,and other investigatorshave but visitsto thesesites reveal that many North Carolina),including several types hkewise used the word to describe a va- outgrew,long ago, the pocosinvegeta- ofpocosin, savannaand related succes- riety of low, woodedwetland habitats, tion stage.Definition is further ham- sional communities. Buell and Cain and in many instancesthe terms bay, pered by the fact that many pocosins (1943) describedthe successionalrole bayhead,stream head forest, shrub bog, are situatedwithin extensivepalustrine and ecologicalrequirements of Atlantic Volume 40, Number 5 1263 ties in various seral stages,some also contain sizable lakes, ponds, marshes, bogs, and swamps. In a large number of bays,natural fire hasbeen suppressed for so long that the plant commumt•es in them are now mature bay forests Little field work has been conducted to survey birds within or adjacent to pocosinhabitats. In fact, the only no- table studiesin pocosinareas have been by Brooke Meanley on the Dismal Swamp fauna of northeasternNorth Carolina and southeastern Virg•ma (Meanley 1968, 1969, 1976, 1979), but none of these was in typical pocos•n habitats. Authors have commented on the lack of information on vertebrates associated with pocosins and succes- sionally related southeasternCoastal Plain habitats(e.g., Wilbur 1981,Shar- itz and Gibbons 1983). However, several reports on the bird life of successional stages of pocosin-associated communities have recently appeared Lynch (1981) reported on a six-hour surveyof birdshe conductedin a young bay forest in North Carolina and Ter- williger and Rose (1984) compared breedingbirds associatedwith Atlantm White Cedar and maple-gumforest •n the Dismal Swamp. The only actual publishedstudy on the birds of a true pocosincommunity is that of Clark and Potter (1982). This profile of various plant communities on the North Car- olina Biological Survey study site at McCain, Hoke County, North Carohna, provides a partially annotated list of breeding birds of the six major plant communitiesoccurring on the property One of theseis a five-acreCarolina Bay that is dominated by high shrub pocosin,from which 21 speciesof nesting birdsis reported.With theseexceptions, Figure 1. Pocosinareas in North Carolina (modifiedfrom Richardson1981). published information on the awan fauna of pocosinsystems and associated successionalstages is unavailable. Pocosinhabitats are widespreadgeo- graphically and can be found from White-cedar forests in southeastern cosincommunities. Although this study southeastVirginia to northernFlorida North Carolina. White-cedar forests does not cover Carolina bays per se, and are estimatedto have originallyoc- and savannas are both closely allied severalspecific types of vegetativecom- cupiedover 20% (2.25 million acres)of with pocosins. Additionally Wells, munitiesthat I studiedwere growingin the Coastal Plain of North Carolina (1932), Woodwell(1956), and Sharitz thesebays. Carolina bays vary in size and Gibbons (1983) provided good from only a few acresto many hundreds alone (Fig. 1). Wells (1946) noted that overviewsof pocosin vegetation;and of acres.An exposedsand rim of varying there were over 300 squaremiles ofpo- Wellsand Whitford (1976) presentedan width normally occursaround the pe- cosin in just three southeasternNorth outline of the serial development and rimeter. Thesedepressions are naturally Carolina counties. Since that time a successionalfate of stream head swamp wetter at all seasons than most sur- high.percentage of theseareas has been forests, pocosins, and savanna com- rounding areas, contrastingmarkedly drained, or partially drained, and munities. with the dry sand rims which support clearedfor agricultural or silvicultural Carolina bays must also be men- xeric plant communities.While many purposes;some have been dammed for t•oned in that they often support po- Carolina bays host pocosincommuni- mill ponds. Other areashave been pro- 1264 American Birds, Winter 1986 Protracted tectedfrom fire for solong that the plant communities, through natural succes- :•:• =POCOSIN COMMUNITIES sion, have outgrown pocosincommunity serialstages. There is some uncertainty about the extent of the loss of these habitats and the needfor concern.Reports by Heath (1975) and Richardson et al. (1981) provide a generaland gloomy summary of the projectedfuture of theseCoastal Plain wetlands. Most other studies have drawn on these sources as the basis for major concern for vanishing pocosin habitats.Richardson (1983) statedthat only 31% of North Carolina pocosins remain in a natural state. McMullan (1984) hassuggested that the reasonsfor concern may be less seriousthan pre- viously stated, owing to faulty data sourcesand incomplete or nonexistent inventories. McMullan (1984) also demonstrated,in an analysisof a 300- year historical study of land use on the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula of North Carolina, that pocosin communities have persistedin spiteof a long history of rearing and draining, and that many ComparativelyShort presentday pocosinshave developed (or TIME redeveloped)on abandonedfarm lands. Assumingthat the answeris somewhere recent infrequent suppressed fire or fire fire betweenthe extremesexpressed in these disturbance reports, it appearsthat the original es- Figure 2. Proposedvegetation development of pocosinsand associatedplant communitiesas timatesof habitat lossare too high, but related to disturbance,time, and hydroperiod. that concernfor lossof pocosinhabitats isjustified, although perhaps overstated. Likewise, sincelittle information on the vertebrate fauna associatedwith pocosins is available, definitive statements have not been investigatedin terms of Community development made by previous authors concerning their bird faunaanywhere. Although the and structure wildlife values of pocosins were pre- information presented here pertains Various environmental factors dic- mature. For example, Lee and Potter only to North Carolina, I suspectthat tate the type ofpocosincommunity that (1984) and Clark et al. (1985) demon- thesefindings would generallyapply to developson a site. The most conspic- strate that the bird and mammal asso- other areasin the Southeast.My efforts uous factors are surface and sub-surface ciates are mostly ubiquitous forms to date have been focused on species soil types, hydroperiod,and fire. The and that for mammals, densityis gener- inventoriesof a large number of differ- importance of the regularity and inten- ally low. ent shrub dominated communities sity of fire asit relatesto season,hydro- An overview of the breeding bird throughoutthe North Carolinal Coastal period, wind, and the accumulation of fauna of these communities is overdue. Plain. While I consider the findings combustiblevegetation cannot

Load more