THE SEASIDE SPARROW, ITS BIOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT Edited by THOMAS L QUAY JOHN B. FUNDERBURG JR. DAVID S. LEE ELOISE F. POTTER CHANDLER S. ROBBINS Occasional Papers of the North Carolina Biological Survey 1983-5 Proceedings of a Symposium Held at Raleigh, North Carolina -- FISH & WILDLIFE \ 1-2 October 1981 SERVK E PUBLICATIONS OF THE NORTH CAROLINA BIOLOGICAL SURVEY The occasional publications of the North Carolina Biological Survey are devoted to scientific papers in various disciplines within the general fields of botany and zoology. Publications to be issued at irregular intervals include collections of short papers, book-length studies, and proceedings of symposia sponsored by the Survey. Biological Survey publications are distributed by the North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 27647, Raleigh, N.C. 27611. Checks should be made payable to NCDA, Museum Extension Fund. Eloise F. Potter Editor Occasional Papers of the North Carolina Biological Survey 1983-6 $15, postpaid ® 1983 by the North Carolina Biological Survey and the North Carolina State Museum of Natural History THE SEASIDE SPARROW, ITS BIOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT Proceedings of a Symposium Held at Raleigh, North Carolina 1-2 October 1981 Sponsored by the North Carolina Biological Survey and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Frontispiece: The Nine Races of the Seaside Sparrow Watercolor by John Henry Dick TEa//a/^u-lA£ ^e/v/A/ETT/ ■pet-o/voTA AA ACC3-)ti.lVf?A) I A^Af?\xlA^A I A\A\. ■THt /V/A/£' RACES OF THE Seaside S'PAr?Row AA\A^05PlZA /AAI^ITIAAA Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from IMLS LG-70-15-0138-15 https://archive.org/details/seasidesparrowitOOunse THE SEASIDE SPARROW, ITS BIOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT Proceedings of a Symposium Held at Raleigh, North Carolina 1-2 October 1981 Sponsored by the North Carolina Biological Survey and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Edited by THOMAS L QUAY JOHN B. FUNDERBURG JR. DAVID S. LEE ELOISE F. POTTER CHANDLER S. ROBBINS Occasional Papers of the North Carolina Biological Survey 1983-5 ■. I The Seaside Sparrow, Its Biology and Management CONTENTS Introduction David S. Lee. 1 PART I. The Seaside Sparrow: An Overview Keynote Address F. Eugene Hester. 5 The Salt-marsh Ecosystem Arthur W. Cooper. 7 The Seaside Sparrow Assemblage: A Review of Its History and Biology 01 iver L. Austin Jr. 13 Distributional Evolution of the Seaside Sparrow John B. Funderburg Jr. and Thomas L. Quay . 19 PART II. Biology of the Seaside Sparrow Distribution and Migration of the Seaside Sparrow Chandler S. Robbins. 31 Distribution, Habitat, and Status of Breeding Seaside Sparrows in Florida Herbert W. Kale 11. 41 Habitat Partitioning by Seaside and Song Sparrows Michael F. Delany and James A. Mosher. 49 The Cape Sable Sparrow: Its Habitat, Habits, and History Harold W. Werner and Glen E. Woolfenden. 55 An Annotated Bibliography of the Seaside Sparrow Mary Victoria McDonald. 77 Vocalization Repertoire of a Marked Population of Seaside Sparrows Mary Victoria McDonald. 87 Geographic Variation in Primary Song of the Seaside Sparrow John William Hardy . 95 Microgeographic Distribution of Breeding Seaside Sparrows on New York Salt Marshes Jon S. Greenlaw. 99 Food Habits of Nestling Seaside Sparrow's in Unaltered and Ditched Salt Marshes on Long Island, New’ York Thomas L. Merriam . 115 Comparative Ecology of Northern and Southern Populations of the Seaside Sparrow William Post, J. S. Greenlaw, T. L. Merriam, and Lois A. Wood. 123 PART III. Protection and Management of Seaside Sparrow Populations Habitat Use and the Distribution of the Cape Sable Sparrow James A. Kushlan and Oron L. Bass Jr. 139 Fire Management and the Cape Sable Sparrow Dale L. Taylor. 147 Breeding Seaside Sparrows in Captivity Diomas A. Webber and William Post . 153 Seaside Sparrow’ Sperm Preservation George F. Gee and Thomas J. Sexton . 163 Summary of the Seaside Sparrow Symposium Eloise F. Potter. 167 Biographies of Contributors. 169 ( ' s vr' .<s ■ I ■<■.•-4^ n * -’.-fc 'i*' \ >. , .^1, 1 ', • ♦ I i/ ^ -«Ju *.'V i-.- ^ -•"■ - 'iV 'r<‘ t. rdflt / 1 - » • ** i INTRODUCTION Imagine for a moment you are on the Eastern Willets, Common Yellowthroats, and several other spe¬ Shore of Maryland. Far to the west is a low horizon of cies of rails regularly frequent the marsh; as far south Loblolly Pines, indicating the limits of the sandy loam as the eastern shore of Maryland, at least. Marsh soils of the coastal plain. In all other directions is Hawks occasionally nest locally. What the breeding- marsh, and except for the two-lane road that extends bird fauna lacks in variety, however, is more than made for 10 miles and connects Deal Island with the forested up for in numbers. The productivity of salt marshes is mainland of the Delmarva Peninsula, there is no place well documented, so it comes as no surprise that birds in view that is more than a few inches above the reach congregate here in numbers. Density estimates of nearly of high tide. A rich green expanse of windswept cord- 2,000 breeding male Seaside Sparrows per square grasses is irregularly broken by dark islands of Black kilometer have been reported. Although this density Needlerush, and here and there, slightly higher parts of seems to be somewhat high, it does exemplify how the marsh are claimed by an unmappable maze of abundant these sparrows may be in ideal habitat. tidal creeks that twice daily flood the low marsh with My introduction to the Seaside Sparrow was in brackish water. Here there is no protective overstory; Zoology-406, when the instructor, John Funderburg, only grasses emerge from a world that at one hour explained to the ornithology class the complex zoogeo¬ belongs to the harsh extremes of the sun and at another graphic evolutionary history of this species. I was to the sea. This inhospitable place is the home of the impressed and soon became captivated with ideas about Seaside Sparrow. Seasides, and other salt-marsh effects of changing Pleistocene shorelines on other dwellers, live here under the terms of a genetically animal groups. Not until coming to work at this museum signed contract with the marsh, and their daily activi¬ did I realize that what I had heard years before was the ties are dictated by an oddly synchronized cadence of yet unpublished research of Funderburg and Tom Quay. the salt-laden tides. Years after Zoology-406, while on the staff of the Flor¬ The May morning songs of Red-winged Blackbirds ida State Museum, I had the opportunity to join Bill come from every direction, and sporadic outbursts of Hardy in recording the voices of both the Dusky Sea¬ loud Clapper Rail clucks are heard from deep within side and Cape Sable Sparrows. Seeing on successive the salt meadows. The voices of counter-dueling Long¬ days the two extreme color phases of this bird triggered billed Marsh Wrens and the high, faint trills of Sharp¬ my memory of Funderburg’s class lecture, and gave me tailed Sparrows would be hard to miss by those attuned the incentive to record and observe additional races and to such things. The one voice that in my mind charac¬ populations of Seasides. Travels from Delaware to terizes the salt marsh, however, is the song of the Sea¬ Louisiana allowed me to witness not only the variety of side Sparrow. It is not a strong song, nor does it possess voices and birds, but also the differences in floristic any musical complexity that makes one wish to re¬ composition of the marshes and the variations in their member it. The weak introductory notes, followed by a sparrow populations. During these travels I inquired of buzzy trill, might be what a miniature Red-winged nesting localities from others who were studying the Blackbird would sound like if it were singing in a paper species, and heard of yet others, and from this field bag. Nevertheless, once this song is recognized, you work grew the idea of this symposium. Not only would soon become aware that the sound of vocalizing Seaside a symposium allow us to collect current research and Sparrows permeates the marsh. Their songs come from put it into perspective, it also would provide the incen¬ everywhere, and the number of little brown birds tive for Funderburg and Quay to finally publish their perched on grasses throughout the meadow makes you long overdue treatise on Seaside Sparrows evolution. aware that the marsh is indeed rich in life. The avian Even for sparrows, Ammospiza maritima is an diversity of salt marshes is seldom as low as it seems on inconspicuous little bird. Its distribution is restricted casual inspection, but the number of species that regu¬ and its habitat monotonous. Yet, it was this confined larly nest in these habitats is quickly tallied. In addition geographic and ecological distribution that allowed to the birds mentioned above, only ducks, herons. rapid genetic differentiation and development of spe- 1 cialized behavioral and physiological profiles in the Several acknowledgments seem in order. The North Caro¬ species. The Seaside Sparrow is one of the few song lina Natural History Society, a support group for the State birds that can survive in uninterrupted salt marshes Museum, and the Carolina Bird Club covered the expenses for and, except for the Clapper Rail, is the only North the coffee breaks. Cynthia Wilkenson and Kaye Cross handled most of the work involved with registration. Steve Platania American bird essentially restricted to these habitats. and Mary Kay Clark were responsible for the audio-visual por¬ The early recognition of different kinds of Seaside tions of the program. Sparrows elicited much taxonomic attention.