NC Wildlifer SEPTEMBER 2012  NC CHAPTER of the WILDLIFE SOCIETY  VOLUME 27 NO

NC Wildlifer SEPTEMBER 2012  NC CHAPTER OF THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY  VOLUME 27 NO. 3

“Susan’s Salutations”

Fall is finally here! The leaves are turning, migration is in full swing, and the rut is not far off. Most of us are more than ready for the cooler nights but not the longer nights. Field seasons are winding down but crabbing season (as I am now learning) is nearing its peak and hunting season is just beginning. What a wonderful time of year!

Over the summer the Board has been busy working on issues small and large. We have brand new Chapter brochures, planned several continuing education workshops, and formalized Chapter procedures that will facilitate our organization’s functioning well into the future. And last, but certainly not least, we have firmed up our bid to host the 2016 Annual Meeting.

It is now the season in which we are looking for nominees to fill vacancies on the Board in the coming year. I hope that you will consider how you might serve our Chapter in 2013. There are committees in addition to elected offices for which we need volunteers. I challenge members, especially those who are newer, younger members to step up. Becoming more involved in our organization is a rewarding experience. This is your chapter: become an active part of it. I guarantee that you will not regret it!

Also we are searching for nominations for our Chapter Award and Wildlife Conservation Award. So if you know someone that deserves consideration, please go to the website and download a nomination from, complete it and send it to our Nominations Committee Chair, John Ann Shearer ([email protected]). There are certainly those in our state that deserve recognition for their efforts that go above and beyond in the name of wildlife and conservation.

I wish you all a happy and fruitful season.

-Susan Campbell

Photo: Atkins Steve

2012 Executive Board

Position Officer Phone Email President Susan Campbell (910) 949-3207 [email protected] President-elect Kendrick Weeks (919) 609-7605 [email protected] Past President Danny Ray (828) 391-1161 [email protected] Secretary Kelly Douglass (919) 896-7344 [email protected] Treasurer Jon Shaw (704) 474-7202 [email protected] Board Jeff Marcus (910) 281-4388 [email protected] Board Gary Marshall (704) 948-8025 [email protected] SE Section Rep. Lori Williams (828) 712-9117 [email protected]

Remaining 2012 Executive Board Meetings, Location Details TBD

Thursday October 11, Raleigh Wednesday December 5

All chapter members are invited to attend!

2012 Committees

Committee Chair Phone Email Audit Jon Heisterberg (919) 786-4480 x228 [email protected] Awards John Ann Shearer (919) 856-4520 x17 [email protected] Conservation Review Kacy Cook (910) 638-4887 [email protected] COWCH Jon Heisterberg (919) 786-4480 x228 [email protected] Education & Information Susan Miller (910) 695-3323 [email protected] Fund Raising Pete Campbell (910) 695-3323 [email protected] Mentoring Program Donna MacLennan (910) 690-1406 [email protected] Membership Colter Chitwood (919) 260-8487 [email protected] Newsletter Lori Williams (828) 712-9117 [email protected] Nominations & Elections Kendrick Weeks (919) 609-7605 [email protected] Professional Development Kelly Douglass (919) 896-7344 [email protected] Procedures Kendrick Weeks (919) 609-7605 [email protected] Program (annual meeting) John Stanton (252) 796-2400 x228 [email protected] Website Susan Miller (910) 695-3323 [email protected] Leopold Wildlife Club Charlie Sanders (919) 515-5578 [email protected] Haywood Community College Chris Graves (advisor) (828) 627-4565 [email protected] Western Carolina University Michael McCloy (910) 690-3142 [email protected]

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Mentoring Program

Two Summaries of Mentoring Experiences

Through the NCTWS Mentoring Program, I was able to build relationships with other wildlife professionals in North Carolina. Recently, those connections allowed me to gain experience banding wood ducks with Greg Walmsley (USFWS), Derrick Helms (volunteer), and Ken Knight (NCWRC) at Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge in Wadesboro. We used rocket nets to trap the ducks and then we proceeded to band each individual while recording the sex, age, and possible recapture status. I increased my hands-on wildlife training while learning about the natural history of the refuge and nearby Gaddy's Wild Goose Refuge. I had a wonderful experience at Pee Dee

and recommend the NCTWS Mentoring Program to any individual looking to gain wildlife experience and build working relationships for the future.

-Liz Rutledge (photos courtesy of Liz Rutledge)

I was introduced to the NCTWS mentoring program as a senior at North Carolina State University after attending the annual NCTWS meeting at Lake Junaluska in 2011. As a graduating senior about to enter the professional world, I still had a lot of unanswered questions about becoming a wildlife professional outside of academia. Specifically, while I knew I was interested in working for a government agency like the US Fish and Wildlife Service, my only professional experience was as a wildlife research technician for professors at NCSU. I decided that the NCTWS mentor program would be a great way for me to gain direct insight into the various career opportunities I could pursue as a wildlife graduate.

3 Since I was interested in learning more about government agencies, I was paired with Pete Campbell, a wildlife biologist working for the USFWS Southern Pines sub office. Pete has been an amazing mentor and has connected me to a variety of professionals in the wildlife field including professors at NCSU (with whom I found jobs with and am currently discussing graduate school), as well as other USFWS biologists. This summer, I expressed interest in gaining volunteer experience with the USFWS, and Pete was able to place me in contact with two other USFWS biologists in North Carolina, Laura Fogo and Sarah McRae.

For my volunteer work, I assisted Laura and Sarah with dam removal surveys they were conducting in Biscoe, NC. This work included freshwater mussel surveys and fish surveys. Over the course of four separate surveys, I was introduced to a variety of professionals ranging from state and federal biologists to private sector fish biologists employed by Progress Energy. I also gained experience locating mussels submerged under substrate, identifying freshwater mussel and fish species, and electrofishing.

After my volunteer opportunities with Laura and Sarah ended, Sarah placed me in contact with Ed Corey, a biologist at NCDENR, as I expressed interest in assisting him with his hellbender surveys on the New River. Working with Ed was incredibly interesting and allowed me my first look at the largest salamander in North America.

All of the volunteer opportunities have proved to be invaluable not only because they provided me with a variety of hands-on skills necessary for a wildlife biologist, but they have also greatly enhanced my professional network. If it were not for my participation in the NCTWS mentor program I would not been introduced to such amazing wildlife professionals and would not have been able to engage in these opportunities. Therefore, I highly encourage all North Carolina students interested in wildlife to participate in the NCTWS mentoring program, as it can change your life and greatly impact your future in the wildlife field.

- Kara Dziwulski (photos courtesy of Kara Dziwulski)

4 Nominations & Elections Committee

Updated: September 5, 2012

Chair: Kendrick Weeks

Members: Danny Ray

Seats up for re-election in 2012 are At-large Board members (2), Treasurer, and President-elect.

The Committee is pleading with everyone in the membership to consider running for office.

PLEASE HELP!!

I understand that everyone is busy with their careers, trying to stay involved and engaged in numerous professional societies, recreational pursuits, and daily family life. Although holding office demands attention and engagement, the work is not overwhelming and it really does increase your understanding, appreciation, and skills to serve in an official capacity. Every member is important just as a member, but consider running for one of the opening seats and help provide the necessary functions that benefit the general membership of the North Carolina Chapter.

For information about the Nominations and Elections Committee or to become a member of the committee, please contact Kendrick Weeks at [email protected] .

-Kendrick Weeks

Procedures Committee

Updated: September 5, 2012

Chair: Kendrick Weeks

Members: Susan Campbell and Danny Ray

Draft Mission Statement: This committee will draft, compile, and maintain a set of procedures that each committee and officer within the chapter can follow in order to facilitate chair and elected or appointed official transitions and guide active members within committees towards effective action.

2012-2013 Goals: 1. Solicit procedures/edits from each committee and officer 2. Develop procedural document of committee and officer duties 3. Edit procedures on as needed basis

The Procedures Committee continues developing the procedures document outlining procedures of each NCTWS committee. In addition, steps were initiated at the August board meeting to expand procedures to include elected and appointed officers and the mission statement was revised to reflect this. Although the 5 bylaws generally define the officer duties, the procedures document will contain more detail relating to procedures that current officers do throughout the year.

For information about the Procedures Committee or to become a member of the committee, please contact Kendrick Weeks at [email protected] .

-Kendrick Weeks

CHAPTER NEWS

Update on NCTWS Bid to Host 2016 TWS Conference

As discussed at the 2012 NCTWS meeting last February, our state chapter has entered a bid to TWS to be the host state and chapter of the 2016 TWS annual conference. This opportunity would bring national attention to our state and student chapters, highlight the richness of North Carolina’s natural resources, and bring well-earned recognition to the wildlife conservation efforts of numerous individuals, agencies, NGOs, and universities in our state.

As the next step in the process, a small steering committee and delegation of NCTWS former and current Executive Council members met with representatives from TWS in Raleigh on August 24, 2012.

The following is a summary of this meeting, as prepared by NCTWS Secretary, Kelly Douglass:

ATTENDEES

Darryl Walter - The Wildlife Society, Chief of Staff Kerrell Farmelant - The Wildlife Society, Consulting Meeting Planner Mara Craft - Raleigh Convention Center, National Sales Manager Stephen Jackson - Visit Raleigh, National Sales Manager Richard Lancia - NC State University, Professor Emeritus (TWS Past President) Bob Brown - NC State University, Dean, College of Natural Resources Chris Deperno - NC State University, Associate Professor (NCTWS Past President) Chris Moorman - NC State University, Associate Professor (NCTWS Past President) David Cobb - NC Wildlife Resources Commission, Chief DWM (SETWS President) Kelly Douglass - NC Wildlife Resources Commission, Biologist (NCTWS Secretary)

BOARD MEETING MINUTES

Darryl Walter thanked everyone for coming and individual introductions were made.

Southeastern Section Bids NCTWS was one of four state chapters to submit a bid to host the 2016 National TWS Annual Conference. The other southeastern cities being considered, listed in no particular order, include: 1) Louisville, Kentucky, 2) Charleston, South Carolina, and 3) Providence, Rhode Island. 6

NCTWS submitted four cities for consideration including Raleigh, Wilmington, Asheville, and Charlotte. Darryl Walter informed the group that Charlotte, Asheville, and Wilmington were removed from the list; Charlotte was too expensive (for lodging), Asheville was too small, and Wilmington never responded.

Meeting Planning TWS has resumed responsibility for the majority of conference logistics, removing the overall planning burden from the individual state chapters. Darryl and Kerrell Farmelant will handle the overall conference logistics. The state steering committee will primarily be responsible for obtaining volunteers (session moderators, drivers, etc.) and coordinating field trips, but will work in concert with Darryl and Kerrell to coordinate AV equipment, field trip meals and transportation, etc.

Bid Approval Darryl and Kerrell will compile a package for the TWS Council to review at the 2012 Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon (October 13-18, 2012) and decide on which bid to accept for the 2016 Annual Conference. Primary considerations include cost and accommodations.

Darryl acknowledged that the level of interest from NCTWS was self-evident by the number of chapter members present at today’s meeting. Field trip options for the 2016 Annual Conference were discussed by the group. Possibilities included: red wolf howling tour, Sandhills field trips (similar to those being offered at the 2013 Southeastern Wildlife Conclave), Outer Banks, sea kayaking and birding, and the Biltmore Estate. Bob Brown emphasized the unique nature of North Carolina and the proximity of Raleigh to a plethora of diverse habitats (coast, piedmont, mountains). He also mentioned the close proximity to the Duke Primate Center, Carnivore Preservation Trust, and the NC Zoological Park. Richard Lancia emphasized the rich amphibian diversity in North Carolina as a potential interest for TWS members.

Field Trips Darryl suggested creating a list of possible field trips to be included in the package submitted to the TWS Council for review, but he would need the list from the NCTWS within the next 1-2 weeks. Chris Moorman recommended emphasizing the positives of Raleigh hosting the 2016 Annual Conference: 1) college students easily accessible for volunteers (NCSU, UNC, and/or Duke); 2) multiple wildlife agencies located within the city (NCWRC, USFWS, NCSU, etc.); and 3) close proximity to a variety of field trip options. He also suggested including the distance (time or miles) to each field trip option, and not limiting any possible field trip ideas (stretching from the mountains to the coast).

Darryl again thanked everyone for attending. He and Kerrell Farmelant then accompanied Mara Craft and Stephen Jackson to tour the possible meeting locations in Raleigh.

-Lori Williams and Kelly Douglass (orig. meeting summary)

7 Leopold Wildlife Club

Dr. Roland Kays, expert in the ecology, evolution, and conservation of mammals, recently joined the Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Program faculty at NCSU. Roland also is the Director of the Earth Observation and Biodiversity Lab of the Nature Research Center, a new 80,000-square-foot wing of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Jake Hughes, Shannon Bowling, Sharon Hux, Charlie Plush, Melissa Turner, and Amy Raybuck all recently completed Master’s of Science degrees. See recent Program newsletters at http://cnr.ncsu.edu/fer/fishwild/fwnews.html for more on what’s happening related to fisheries and wildlife conservation at NCSU.

-Chris Moorman

Haywood Community College

Quota Youth Dove Hunt The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the Haywood Community College student chapter of The Wildlife Society, and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services hosted their 2nd quota youth dove hunt on September 1st. The hunt was held at the Mountain Research Station off Raccoon Road near Waynesville.

The partners have collaborated to include a lunch and special educational sessions throughout the day. Important educational components include hunter safety, what it means to be a responsible hunter, benefits of agriculture to humans and wildlife, wildlife conservation and management, a trapping and banding demonstration workshop, and more. The students also collected biological data at the conclusion of the hunt, conducted one-on-one hunter surveys, and taught youth how to prepare their game for the dinner table.

-Chris Graves

Western Carolina University

Anticipating an eventful new year at Western Carolina University

As the new Western Carolina University student chapter president, I am excited for the prospect of an event-filled upcoming year. I am also excited to be working with three new board members- Amber Holland and Nathan Shepherd, both Vice-Presidents, and Katie Beam, Secretary and Treasurer. We have already hosted our first general meeting of the year, which had an excellent turnout. To kick off the new school year, we will be helping with a trail clean up near Waterrock Knob, NC, on September 15. We are also 8 tentatively planning a camping trip towards the end of the month for returning members to get reacquainted and new members to get to know everyone. This fall, we are also anticipating putting on bird banding and stream shocking demonstrations for interested students. This will be a good way to introduce students to a couple of methods commonly used in wildlife research. We are planning on hosting the Lumberjack Ball again this October or November as a fundraising event. It was a huge success last year, and got many rave reviews from attendees.

-Mike McCloy

Summary of the 2012 NCTWS Annual Meeting Raffle and Auction

NCTWS members-

At our annual meeting we held our raffle drawing and a live auction for various outdoor expeditions. Here are the results: Raffle winners · Nature photography with Brady Beck- Chris Baranski · Bird watching with Kendrick Weeks- Lori Williams · Turkey hunt with Vic French- Jeff Marcus · Deer & Hog hunt at Howell Woods, donated by Jamie Sasser- Ronnie Roberts · Roanoke river fishing with Phil Doerr- Joe Tomcho Auction winners · Turkey hunt with David C Allen- Krisha Faw · Catfish grabblin’ with Lincoln Sadler & Terry Sharpe- Chris Baranski · Deer hunt with Glenn Smith and David Cobb- Robbie Lowman · Birding trip with NC Museum of Natural Sciences (Jerry Reynolds, Mike Dunn, Bryan O’Shea & John Gerwin)- Phil Doerr · Falconry with Bob Pendergrass– Tad Castellow · Rabbit hunt with John Shaw and John Bishop– Deanna Noble

On behalf of NCTWS I would like to thank auctioneers Pete Campbell & David Cobb, auction facilitator Susan Campbell, and everyone who sold and bought raffle tickets. I would especially like to thank the expedition leaders and landowners who very generously donated their time and talents. These expeditions raised a whopping $954 ($359 raffle & $595 auction) for student scholarships and provide a great opportunity for NCTWS members to enjoy unique NC outdoor experiences and increase comradery among wildlife professionals.

-Jeff Marcus

NCTWS 2012 Raffle Coastal Turkey Hunt with Vic French

The 2012 NCTWS coastal turkey hunt was a memorable one. I got up at 2:30 in the morning to drive to Pender Co to meet Vic. He had scouted some private land and knew exactly where the gobbler would roost, fly down into a field, and then cross that field right where we’d have a blind and decoys set up. The bird gobbled as scheduled and flew into the field as planned, but this morning he had some hens with him

9 and he decided to follow those hens rather than follow his routine and we couldn’t entice him to cross the field to us. We chased the bird through the swamp for most of the morning to no avail.

After a break we decided to pack up the blind. Vic drove out to the middle of the empty field and we walked toward the blind talking the whole way. We could see 99% of the field but there was one far corner that was hidden by a slight mound in the field. As we approached and we could see over the rise, we were staring at the fanned out tail feathers of a gobbler. We dropped to the ground. “Where’s the gun?” “Unloaded back in the truck.”

I ran in a crouch the 200 yards back to the truck, loaded the gun and ran in a crouch back to Vic. Vic suggested that I army-crawl to the top of the mound then rise up and shoot. I crawled on my belly 50

yards, unable to see the other side, when I looked to my left and Photo:Vic French saw 3 hens staring at me. Luckily, because I was flat on the ground, the hens didn’t quite know what to make of me, and the gobbler

was still occupied by the hens. I rose up, shaking like mad, and somehow shot the bird at 41 yards. Vic called him the most unlucky turkey in NC that day. Spending any day in the field with Vic is always worthwhile, but this day was particularly memorable to get my first turkey after 5+ years of trying.

-Jeff Marcus

NCTWS 2012 Raffle Mountain Birding with Kendrick Weeks

Date and Location: May 19, 2012; Transylvania County, NC Time: 0605-1315 Elevation Range: ~2000’ to >5500’ Weather: cool (50s in a.m. to low-60s by p.m.; intermittent fog then mix of sun and clouds with overcast skies by mid-day Participants: Kendrick Weeks, Lori Williams, Gordon Warburton

I admit it. I stuffed the raffle box with my own tickets to win. As a novice birder eager to continue learning and practicing with the experts, I really, really wanted to go on this trip, particularly since

it would be in my own neck of the woods, would help me gain Photo: Williams Lori experience with my region’s birds, and would be led by one of the best birders I know. Sometime after I won the raffle at the 2012 meeting, I found out a colleague and fellow NCTWS member had also added his fair share of tickets to this particular raffle, with the same hopes of winning. How could I deny participation to such an enthusiast? I could not, and therefore it was with great pleasure that I invited Gordon Warburton to join our birding party.

KW and GW in ESH at “hospital fields,” Brevard Greenway 10 Our trio worked as a single, unified, birding machine, with each of us at certain points in the day spotting a species that the others had missed or just picking up enough of a tweet, chirp, chip, warble, or song to draw the attention of the others. The day flew by as we made our way up in elevation starting at the Brevard Greenway (“hospital fields”) first thing in the morning where we had patches of early successional habitat, woodlots, and forest edges with open fields, all within a suburban landscape. One of the highlights here was the yellow-breasted chat.

Before we made our way into Pisgah Forest, I kindly reminded Kendrick of the request I had made when we met up to carpool at 0530 that I needed to make a quick stop to grab a drink and snack, as I had not had time (or was awake enough) to pack a lunch prior to leaving the house at 0500. However, into Pisgah Forest on Rt. 276 we sped with a vengeance. We added numerous birds to our list as we walked the Art Loeb Trail along the Davidson

Photo: LoriWilliams Photo: River picking up birds to the left, right, up, down, and from riparian habitat, rhododendron thickets, and overhead powerlines. A particularly good learning experience here was distinguishing among the Louisiana waterthrush, Swainson’s warbler, and yellow-throated warbler.

LW gets distracted by salamander sign along the Davidson River and also realizes she is not the only one who re-uses Tidy Cat litter buckets…..

Onward we went, with a quick stop at the Pisgah Wildlife Education Center for a restroom break (and did I mention I was getting hungry and thirsty by now?). Highlights here

included being in the middle of a territory dispute between Photo: Weeks Kendrick two Louisiana waterthrush and getting mobbed by nesting barn swallows and N. rough-winged swallows under the porch and eaves of the Center. An equally rewarding

highlight, thanks to Center staff Linda Michael, was my receiving two, sugary, Capri-Sun® foil-pack, kids’ drinks leftover from some school event at the Center. 

Thirst abated, sort of, we then drove up the mountain on FR 475B, stopping at a couple of pull-offs where we had variety in forest structure and the occasional canopy gap. LW and GW over Davidson River trying to spot a yellow-throated warbler Here, I learned just how much American redstarts love thick vines dangling from tall canopy trees. We next popped back out onto Rt. 276 and visited the Pink Beds

picnic area where we were graced with the presence of image Wikipedia the gorgeous Blackburnian warbler, my new favorite bird to study through binoculars.

We were getting close to the Blue Ridge Parkway at the

next stop on Rt. 276 at the Buck Spring Trail pull-off. Lots Blackburnian Warbler of forest interior birds here and high-elevation warblers, including the showy Blackburnian warbler again (“Flame on!” –GW). 11

Onward to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Graveyard Fields we went. At this point, I was weak from hunger and was about to launch into full foraging mode in Kendrick’s car when he saved the day, my mood, and my blood sugar by offering a picnic of lemon cookies, Fig Newtons®, and various granola-based treats. Wahoo! We did not linger at Graveyard Fields long, and the place was already packed with hikers and campers, but there, we honed our recognition of the alder flycatcher song and behavior, as the

Photo: Gordon Warburton Photo: shrubby understory was thick with these birds.

Many various warblers, juncos, and other typical high-elevation

LW and KW at Devil’s Courthouse overlook birds later, we found ourselves hiking up to the lookout on Devil’s Courthouse. What a view! And, how glad I was to have remembered my fleece jacket if nothing else.

The last stop of the day was at the Rough Butt Bald Overlook on the Parkway and across the road on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail at Buckeye Creek. Amid the typical high-elevation birds we’d grown to expect was an unusual warbler---this bird even stumped

Kendrick, so we just knew we had something rare or some bird had taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque in its migration or something. Gordon and I offered every single warbler we could

Photo: LoriWilliams Photo: think of, but Kendrick was not buying---except…could it be…a wayward, lost hermit warbler? A denizen of the great woods of the NW?? Gordon even checked a bird guide on his smart phone to try to solve the mystery. Meanwhile, the three of us split up to KW and GW at top of Devil’s Courthouse, no doubt observing try to put some eyes on this mystery bird. Dipping and dodging another chestnut-sided warbler the thick spruce branches while trying to pick out this bird in the upper canopy with binoculars was quite the challenge. Finally, Kendrick found the bird, and we all got eyes on it. It turned out to be our favorite bird of the day, Blackburnian warbler, but he was in dire need of singing lessons. This little episode demonstrated to a novice like myself, the importance of actually seeing birds not just relying on the perfect song learned on Birding by Ear CDs and

the like.

Our bird trip was over with a total of 66 species logged for the day

Photo: LoriWilliams Photo: (list below). Kendrick commented on some very common species that we did not pick up but should have, maybe due to our starting the morning a bit later than we should have. However, I was very happy with the outing, I learned a lot, I learned how much more I have to learn, and I certainly got my money’s worth.

View from the top of Devil’s Courthouse  Thanks, Kendrick!

Acadian Flycatcher Empidonax virescens Golden-crowned Kinglet Regulus satrapa Alder Flycatcher Empidonax alnorum Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias American Goldfinch Spinus tristis Hairy Woodpecker Picoides villosus American Redstart Setophaga ruticilla Hooded Warbler Setophaga citrina American Robin Turdus migratorius House Wren Troglodytes aedon Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica Indigo Bunting Passerina cyanea Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia Louisiana Waterthrush Parkesia motacilla Blackburnian Warbler Setophaga fusca Mallard Anas platyrhynchos Black-capped Chickadee Poecile atricapillus Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura Black-throated Blue Warbler Setophaga caerulescens Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis Black-throated Green Warbler Setophaga virens Northern Parula Setophaga americana Northern Rough-winged Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata Stelgidopteryx serripennis Swallow Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Polioptila caerulea Ovenbird Seiurus aurocapilla Blue-headed Vireo Vireo solitarius Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus Brown Creeper Certhia americana Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus Brown Thrasher Toxostoma rufum Red-breasted Nuthatch Sitta canadensis Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus Canada Goose Branta canadensis Red-shouldered Hawk Buteo lineatus Canada Warbler Cardellina canadensis Ruby-throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris Carolina Chickadee Poecile carolinensis Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia Chestnut-sided Warbler Setophaga pensylvanica Swainson's Warbler Limnothlypis swainsonii Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor Common Grackle Quiscalus quiscula Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis Veery Catharus fuscescens Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis Eastern Bluebird Sialia sialis White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe Winter Wren Troglodytes hiemalis Eastern Towhee Pipilo erythrophthalmus Wood Thrush Hylocichla mustelina European Starling Sturnus vulgaris Yellow-breasted Chat Icteria virens Field Sparrow Spizella pusilla Yellow-throated Warbler Setophaga dominica

Total species 66

-Lori Williams

Photo:

planet

ofbirds.com

Chestnut-sided warbler, a common high-elevation bird

New Project Leader for Three Eastern North Carolina Refuges

[condensed from] USFWS Media Release: July 18, 2012 Photo: Campbell Susan Contact: Pete Campbell, [email protected], 252-926-4021

Peter Campbell, a 19-year veteran of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is the new Project leader for Mattamuskeet, Swanquarter, and Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuges in North Carolina. On July 15, he began his new role as leader of the refuge complex.

One of Campbell’s top priorities will be to establish Friends Groups at Mattamuskeet and Cedar Island Refuges. Friends Groups, comprised of community volunteers, assist refuge staff members by helping with public events, teaching the community about wildlife and conservation, maintaining refuge trails and wildlife habitat, and raising funds. “I am honored to have been selected as the new project leader for these three refuges,” Campbell said. “I know the work will be both challenging and rewarding and will require a team effort on the part of Service staff working together with members of the local communities who have come to love these refuges.”

Campbell has worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service for 19 of his 21 years with the federal government.

He will continue to serve as co-chair of the Eastern North Carolina and Southeastern Virginia Strategic Habitat Conservation Team, a partner in the South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC). In 2009 and 2010, when the South Atlantic LCC was formed, Campbell served as its Interim Coordinator. The LCC coordinates the efforts and resources of numerous federal, state, and non-profit conservation organizations to provide the best science to on-the-ground land management agencies, such as refuges, to accomplish “the right things in the right places for the right reasons.”

The 40,000-acre Lake Mattamuskeet, North Carolina’s largest natural lake, is within Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, Swan Quarter, North Carolina. More than 100,000 visitors annually enjoy fishing, crabbing, hunting for waterfowl and deer and observing wintering waterfowl, such as Canada geese, ducks, and tundra swans. The 16,411-acre Swanquarter National Wildlife Refuge features the Swanquarter National Wilderness Area which is part of an extensive coastal marsh. Located on the north shore of Pamlico Sound, most of the refuge, except for the Bell Island Unit near Swanquarter, is only accessible by boat. Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge is located in Carteret County on the end of a peninsula marking the southern end of Pamlico Sound. Cedar Island features an extensive coastal marsh. Both Cedar Island and Swanquarter refuges have large concentrations of waterfowl, including diving ducks, such as lesser scaups, redheads, canvasbacks, buffleheads, sea ducks, American black ducks, black rails, wading birds, and shorebirds.

Mattamuskeet NWR Facts Established: 1934. Acres: 50,180. Other management responsibilities: Swanquarter and Cedar Island national wildlife refuges. Thirteen conservation easements in seven counties in eastern North Carolina totaling 362 acres. Mattamuskeet Lodge (National Register of Historic Places).

14 Location: the refuge is 9 miles east of Swan Quarter, NC by U.S. Highway 264 and U.S. Highway 94 in Hyde County. http://www.fws.gov/southeast/pubs/mtktear.pdf http://www.fws.gov/southeast/pubs/mtkgen.pdf

-USFWS press release: www.fws.gov/southeast/news/2012/040.html

Ray Danny

An Update from the Mecklenburg County Park & Rec Division of Nature Preserves and Natural Resources

Updated: August 2012

Summer Intern:

Ms. Erica Brown, an undergraduate student in the Wildlife and Fisheries program at N.C. State University, assisted the Mecklenburg County Conservation Science team as a student intern during the summer break. Erica helped out with a variety of projects including: invasive plant monitoring, initial biodiversity assessments (IBA’s), project data entry, bird banding demonstrations and more. Erica did a great job! We greatly enjoyed her sharing her positive attitude, energy and enthusiasm with our team.

Educational Outreach:

Staci Clark was promoted to a position as Mecklenburg County’s new Master Naturalist Program Coordinator, earlier in the year and she has now developed the new Central Carolinas Master Naturalist Program in conjunction with the Mecklenburg County Natural Resources Section and Central Piedmont Community College. Master Naturalists are a corps of well-trained volunteers who assist agencies by providing educational programs and service hours on various volunteer projects benefitting our natural resources. Volunteers complete a 60+ hour training course and 40 hours of volunteer effort before being certified through Central Piedmont Community College. Natural Resources staff members Lenny Lampel, Chris Matthews, Catherine Luckenbaugh, Christa Rogers, and Don Seriff have been hired as part-time faculty with the college so they can act as instructors for this course and other courses in the STEM program. All spaces have already filled for training in 2012 and 2013!

15 This year, Don Seriff (adjunct faculty with UNC-Charlotte’s STEM program) had an opportunity to lead a special field excursion for science teachers sponsored by the UNC-Charlotte STEM program and the Science Coordinator Office with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system. The program was designed to highlight North Carolina’s biodiversity. The group started at the summit of Mount Mitchell, headed eastward across the state visiting a variety of natural communities and special protected natural areas, and ended in a catamaran on the shores of Cape Lookout National Seashore. Experts like Mark Johns at Hemlock Bluffs and Carson Wood at Holly Shelter provided insight into their natural areas along the way. The group was filmed at each location along the way and a nine-part DVD was produced and will be distributed to all CMS middle school classrooms and all elementary school science teachers this year.

Dr. Mike Baranski of Catawba College brought a group of students from the UNC-Charlotte Summer Venture Program to the Conservation Science Office this summer to learn about urban wildlife and conservation initiatives in urban areas. He has been bringing his groups to meet and talk with Mecklenburg County Natural Resources staff for almost ten years. Staff provided an overview of the county’s conservation science program, an introduction to bird banding, an opportunity to monitor a herp coverboard array, and a chance to visit our herbarium which currently houses 42,000+ specimens.

Photos: Seriff Don

Prothonotary Warbler banding, Mountain Island Lake

Ongoing Projects:

The Mecklenburg County Conservation Science Office has been

actively engaged in conducting a variety of inventory and monitoring Photos: Sanders Tom projects on various plant and animal species in Mecklenburg County and the surrounding 14-county metropolitan region for over 15 years.

We have focused primarily on plants, vertebrate animals, butterflies

and odonates, but recently Lenny Lampel and Taylor Piephoff (now with Environmental Health) and many volunteers have made great strides in adding to our moth inventory. They have collectively identified over 450 species in Mecklenburg County and a handful are

not only new county records, but are believed to be new to the state Dion Skipper, McDowell Creek Greenway, list as well. August 26, 2012

Staff updates:

Mary Colbert, a volunteer since high school and former seasonal staff person with Mecklenburg County Natural Resources, recently finished a two-year term position as a Natural Resources Specialist with the BLM in New Mexico and is now working with the U.S. Forest Service Fish and Aquatic Ecology group in the western U.S. This position requires backcountry “hitches” of 8 days each spent hiking and camping in some

16 of the most remote and rugged areas of the Selway-Bitterroot and Sawtooth Wilderness Areas and elsewhere. Members of her team are dropped in and extracted by helicopter in the most remote zones.

Alan Kneidel, another former volunteer and contractor with our group from high school through college and beyond, has been conducting bird research in various parts of the globe from South America to the Arctic. His most recent experience involved an encounter with a full adult grizzly bear which charged him and his assistant on a glacier in Alaska, while collecting bird data for Manomet Bird Observatory.

(Don’t these seasonal jobs make you yearn once again for your young, carefree days - before you settled down with a house, kids, and permanent career!)

-Don Seriff

http://216.27.39.101/greengrowth/

The WRC Commissioners recently endorsed a document with recommendations for conserving terrestrial habitats for priority species. The development of this document was led by former WRC employees Jacquelyn Wallace and Nathan Tarr. This project scoured the scientific literature for information to answer questions such as "how big must a habitat patch be?", "how close must habitat patches be to maintain connectivity", and "how big a habitat buffer is required?" in order to conserve priority species. The information was distilled into recommendations intended for land use planners to support the Green Growth Toolbox initiative, but the recommendations should have use for multiple conservation efforts. While the document includes some management information, it is not intended to be a comprehensive source of habitat management recommendations.

The recommendations are grouped by habitat type and can be found on pages 1-25. Appendix C provides more detailed information from the original published studies and will be useful to those wishing to get an overview of the published literature on a given habitat or topic.

This document was designed to complement WRC's 2002 Memorandum on Cumulative and Secondary Impacts which provides conservation recommendations primarily for aquatic habitats. Both documents can be found at: http://www.ncwildlife.org/Portals/0/Conserving/documents/ConservingTerrestrialHabitatsandSpecies.pdf. http://www.ncwildlife.org/Conserving/LearnResources/HowtoConserve.aspx

-Jeff Marcus

17 Albino Hummingbird Documented in the Coastal Plain

A report arrived in late August of a white hummingbird, possibly an albino at feeders along the

Pamlico in Chocwinity (Beaufort County: just south of Photo: Paulson Bill Washington). Since I was already in Hyde County, this would be a quick trip to document and hopefully band the bird. I arrived on August 24th in the wind and pouring rain and was cheerfully greeted by the homeowner and neighbors. With no regard for the weather, I was also greeted by several feeding hummers-- including the white bird. So once the deluge subsided, I set up the trap and caught my subject immediately.

Wow-- definitely an albino! The red eye, pink feet and bill and white feathering confirmed it. As expected, it was a juvenile female. She had a good amount of fat

which was not a surprise either. Mot of our ruby- throateds are migrants by mid-August and finding chubby youngsters is pretty common. The one odd

characteristic which was very noticeable on this gal was Photo: Quent LuptonQuent Photo: the gray band across the middle of her tail where it would typically be green. I have not seen this on the other albinos I have handled.

Local educator and birder Quent Lupton was on hand with his camera. He captured not only the hummer's tail color but also red eye shine (this is a first!) confirming the true color of what

appears to be a dark eye from a distance. Photo: Quent

This hummingbird hung around gorging herself on the Lupton

abundant food along the river's edge but moved on the

following week. She is only the fourth albino ruby-throated hummingbird documented in North Carolina, three of which have been banded.

-Susan Campbell

18 30th Anniversary of Fur, Fish, ‘n’ Game Rendezvous A photo essay by the late Rex Gary Schmidt & Allen C. Basala

There’s been a lot of water over the Camp Millstone dam since the first rendition of Fur, Fish, ’n’ Game Rendezvous (FFnGR). Many NC TWS members and former members were instrumental in initiating and nurturing the 6 day, 5 night camp for boys and girls ages 11 to 16. Over the years, some of the FFnGR campers went on to become fisheries, wildlife, and forestry majors in college. Some of those went on to become wildlife professionals.

In June 2012, active and retired staff from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (Conservation/Education, Enforcement, & Wildlife Management), NCSU (Ag & Forestry Extension), USDA-APHIS, and the Wake County Wildlife Club were among the instructors at the 30th anniversary edition of FFnGR. If camp evaluations are revealing, the 2012 campers like those of 3 decades ago had fun while learning about wildlife management and conservation, outdoor ethics, shooting, casting, boating, survival skills, cooking, and safety.

Sometimes, I look at successful conservation and education programs today without taking the time to ask how and who initiated them, or how the programs changed over time. I decided to look back at Fur, Fish, ‘n’ Game Rendezvous. There were a lot of current and past NC TWS members who played important roles in initiating the vision, nurturing, and/or maintaining FFnGR. Names like Atkinson, Bromley, Doerr, Drake, Goldfarb, Hamilton, Hancock, Harkins, Hazel, Jones, Moorman, San Julian, Sharpe, Sharpe, Shearer, Shutt, Strnad, Woodward and so many more bring back good memories and forgotten thanks for what they did for wildlife conservation through education via FFnGR.

Rex Gary Schmidt

The photos below were taken by the late Rex Gary Schmidt at the 1983 Fur, Fish, ‘n’ Game Rendezvous, Camp Millstone, Ellerbe, NC. Whether at the Missouri Department of Conservation, US Fish & Wildlife Service, NC Wildlife Resources Commission, the NC Wildlife Federation, or the Wake County Wildlife Club, Rex was known. He was a great photographer, staunch conservationist, a quiet mentor and friend to many.

His 1983 FFnGR photos and my imperfect recollections follow:

Shotgun Shooting and Safety

In 1983, 100 campers meant cocking the heavy spring- loaded trap 300-500 times or more in a day. Phew!

Today, at Camp Millstone’s John Lentz Shooting center, there are 5 stand sporting clays, high and low house traps, and a traditional skeet range. All use electricity to send the clay pigeons on their way. 1983. Shotgun shooting facilities

19 Hands on Wildlife & Forestry Management

To many youngsters and some adults, the tools of forestry and wildlife management are just theoretical concepts. But, even in 1983, FFnGR students learned by seeing the tools, operating them, and even touching the data. That holds true in 2012.

1983. Campers are guided by an instructor and Game Management- from Harvesting to Table use an increment borer to determine tree age.

The initial preparatory steps in partaking of nature’s bounty are some things that were foreign to many FFnGR campers even in 1983. To some, meat contained within a hide doesn’t exist. To them and others campers, raw meat was something carried home from the butcher shop or grocery store meat market. Mom handled the rest. Today, the rest is often handled by fast food restaurants.

In 1983 and 2012 and the years in between, the eyes of FFnGR campers are opened to the other

steps in the process. 1983. Some of happenings between the field and the table — deboning, removing “silver skin”, and string wrapping bacon covered venison roasts. Graduation- Hunter Education Certificate and Patch

In recent years, FFnGR campers got a tee shirt as a remembrance of their week at Camp Millstone. But, there was also something more enduring that nearly all of the campers took home. Today as in 1983, campers passing the NC Wildlife Resources Commission’s hunter education exam get a patch and a certificate (today it’s a wallet card) recognized in all 50 states and some foreign countries.

1983. Dr. Gary San Julian and Bob Hazel present 1983. Leon Harkins discussing ways to improve the FFnGR permanent FFnGR reminders. -Allen C. Basala

20 USFWS: Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge

Staff at the Asheville Ecological Services Field Office have been

diligently working on plans for a new national wildlife refuge Photo: Jonathan Mays (“Mountain Bogs National Wildlife Refuge”) that would protect remaining examples of rare, Southern Appalachian bog habitat, several of which contain some of the last populations of the

threatened Bog Turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) and T/E plants such as Mountain Sweet Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia jonesii) and Swamp Pink (Helonias bullata).

Bog Turtle

Photo: Jonathan Mays Photo: Jonathan Mays

Photo: LoriWilliams Photo:

Mountain Sweet Pitcher plants Swamp Pink

Photo: LoriWilliams Photo:

A rare Southern Appalachian Bog

The general plan for the refuge is to protect over 20,000 acres in North Carolina and Tennessee. (see: http://www.fws.gov/southeast/mountainbogs/index.html for more information)

Download fact sheets here: http://www.fws.gov/southeast/mountainbogs/pdf/2012-Fact-sheet-Overview-FINAL.pdf http://www.fws.gov/southeast/mountainbogs/WildlifeBenefits.html

Joint Hellbender Captive Breeding Effort Under Way at Marion Hatchery

Working cooperatively with the N.C. Zoo, the Commission is trying to raise 10 juvenile hellbender that it received from a Texas zoo, with the ultimate goal of breeding them in captivity to create more hellbenders. Media Contact: Jodie B. Owen 919-707-0187 [email protected] MARION, N.C. (Sept. 6, 2012) — Breeding Eastern hellbenders in captivity isn’t for the faint of heart.

For one thing, these odd-looking animals, also called “water dogs” or “snot otters,” are notoriously difficult to keep in captivity. For another, they’re relatively hard to find in the wild, including North Carolina where they’re protected and listed as a species of special concern, so obtaining animals for captive breeding can be quite difficult.

But those factors aren’t deterring biologists with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. Working cooperatively with the N.C. Zoo, the Wildlife Commission is trying to raise to sexual maturity 10 juvenile hellbenders that it received from a Texas zoo in June, with the ultimate goal of breeding them in captivity to create more hellbenders.

Biologists are not interested in propagating hellbenders to augment

wild populations, but rather to meet the increasing demand for these

large, aquatic salamanders as educational and display animals for qualified state agencies, universities and other facilities.

“The Wildlife Commission has no plans or intentions to breed

Photo: LoriWilliams Photo: hellbenders for release into the wild,” said Lori Williams, a mountain wildlife diversity biologist with the Commission’s Division of Wildlife Management. “We are simply trying to eliminate the need for any facility to yank a hellbender from the wild for display purposes. There is no need for that practice anymore if captive stock is available.”

While the Fort Worth Zoo provided the hellbenders to start the project, the N.C. Zoological Society was instrumental in the project’s initial success. John Groves, curator of amphibians and reptiles at the N.C. Zoo in Asheboro, provided Commission biologists with technical advice on hellbender reproduction and husbandry — big challenges when working with captive animals that need very specific parameters of dissolved Photo: T.R. Russ oxygen, water flow, temperature and nesting habitat.

In addition to providing much-needed guidance, the N.C. Zoological Society paid to renovate the raceways at the conservation center.

“This project is critical since it will provide the opportunity in the future to attempt captive breeding of this important member of the aquatic ecosystem in North Carolina,” Groves said. “This project will also give us a wonderful opportunity to study this salamander in captivity in a large, naturalistic enclosure where additional aspects of its behavior and ecology can be more fully understood.”

Currently, the 10 juvenile hellbenders are sharing two aquariums set up at the Commission’s Conservation Aquaculture Center, which is located at the Marion State Fish Hatchery in McDowell County. Staff with the Divisions of Wildlife Management and Inland Fisheries are measuring, weighing and photographing the young animals twice a year. In another year or so, they will place the growing hellbenders in a secure, concrete raceway at the hatchery.

Commission staff began modifying the raceway in July to ensure that conditions will be right for hellbenders to breed and nest when they mature.

“Some of the modifications include the addition of baffles to break up line of sight,” said Peter Lamb, the Commission’s technology center biologist. “This will help keep the animals from feeling over crowded. We will also add a substrate similar to what is found in their natural environment with places for the animals to hide and a set of hinged lids to provide shade and protection from predators.”

Because hellbenders grow more quickly in captivity than they do in their native mountain waters, Williams expects that the young animals will reach sexual maturity by 2015. A lot is riding on the next three years, Williams said. She is hopeful, yet realistic, about the captive-breeding program’s long-term success.

“No one has ever successfully bred Eastern hellbenders in captivity, although many have tried for many years,” Williams said. “It was just last year that a team in the Midwest finally got it right with the Ozark hellbender, having the first-ever successful captive-breeding event with that species. We’re hoping for similar results with the Eastern hellbender.”

Their current location at the Marion facility marks a return home of sorts for the young hellbenders, which started out as an egg mass removed from a stream in the French Broad River system in North Carolina in 2010. The egg mass was taken to the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas for a research project looking at the effects of two organic chemicals found in two river systems on growth and reproductive organs. More than 200 baby

23 hellbenders hatched from the clutch, leaving the Ft. Worth Zoo with a large stock of leftover hellbenders that needed a new home, because they couldn’t be released into the wild.

Several agencies and other institutions accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums received the leftover hellbenders, with the Commission being one of three in North Carolina that had the proper permits, expertise and equipment to care for the hellbenders. The Wildlife Commission is the only North Carolina facility attempting a captive-breeding project. The other North Carolina facilities receiving hellbenders will use them only as display and educational animals.

The Eastern Hellbender — “An Indicator of Good Water Quality”

As its name indicates, the Eastern hellbender is found throughout the Eastern part of the United States from New York to Mississippi. It is one of North America’s largest salamanders, generally reaching lengths up to 24 inches. With its wide, flat head, small, beady eyes and broad, flat tail, the hellbender can be a scary sight for those not familiar with this mostly nocturnal animal. However, the hellbender is nonvenomous and completely harmless, spending its entire life in the clean, fast-moving mountain streams and rivers of North Carolina where it eats mostly crayfish, small fish and other salamanders.

While its preferred food is crayfish, hellbenders are scavengers and will eat just about anything, including bait, or fish on a stringer, which is why anglers can catch them unintentionally.

It’s these unintentional catches that lead many people to think that hellbenders are harmful to fish populations— a myth that Williams is quick to dispel.

“Hellbenders do not eat enough fish to have a negative impact on fishing,” Williams said. “In fact, finding a hellbender in a stream is actually a good thing because hellbenders do well only in clear, clean water. So, finding one is an excellent indicator of good water quality, which also supports game fish populations, like trout and smallmouth bass.”

Williams advises anglers who catch a hellbender to cut the line as close as possible to the hook and release the animal back into the water as quickly and carefully as possible.

Surveys Determine Hellbender Abundance in Five Western North Carolina River Basins

Until recently, biologists had very little information on hellbender populations in North Carolina, although they suspected that hellbenders had declined in many streams due to the usual suspects — poor water quality from silt, sediment and other pollutants, over-collection, human interactions, habitat disturbance, and dams and impounded waterways.

Since 2007, the N.C. Zoo and the Wildlife Commission have surveyed more than 50 waterways in five western North Carolina river basins that were known to have hellbenders at one time or have never been surveyed before.

Preliminary survey results revealed a decline in some hellbender populations while other populations have remained stable. As biologists expected, hellbenders’ success is directly correlated to human density: hellbenders tended to do better in areas with fewer people and less human interactions.

Staff from the N.C. Zoo and the Commission will continue the surveys for another four or five years.

24 “North Carolina has one of the largest populations of hellbenders in the United States,” said Groves, who has worked with Williams to conduct the surveys. “However, we are finding many populations that are declining or possibly gone. Constant monitoring is important, not only to help protect this aquatic salamander, but also to monitor our waterways.”