DRAFT
Second Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Working Group Meeting Notes
Asheville, North Carolina
Blue Ridge Parkway, August 8, 2002
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
The meeting was opened with a welcome by John Gerwin
Introductions were given by participants. Housekeeping comments by Nora Murdock, John
Gerwin, and Keith Watson.
Tennessee
Joe McGuiness, USFS, did not do
surveys but worked on plan for 2003 in Cherokee National Forest of Tennessee,
worked on budget plan;
Chuck Nicholson, TVA, Stone Mountain
near Johnson City, moving across into NC to Avery County – private land
Virginia
John Gerwin for Cecil Thomas did his
surveys on and near Grayson Highlands, did find some birds, did not say how
many, in Highland County near West Virginia (Smithsonian records from 99); 96
Smithsonian records showed birds in same location, going into Pocahontas Co.
VA,
Georgia
Nathan Klaus GA DNR, Jeff McDonald,
USFS, set up transects above 3000 feet, Coleman River – Patterson Gap near
North Carolina, just one bird, interesting potential, some controlled burning
nearby, potential with Golden-winged Warbler surveys (western Raven County),
Raven Bald has some potential but was not surveyed; Sky Valley worth checking
(Hunter)
Cherokee Reservation
Keith Watson, USFWS, reported 4
birds, two females at one spot at Big Witch Gap, one male at Jenkins Gap
Overlook, and one male on a reservation road near ROW, none on Heintooga Road,
rained out at Mt. Sterling.
North Carolina
Chris Kelley, USFS, North Carolina
NF’s, Cane River Gap no birds, did find birds at BeeTree Gap trail at Crab
Apple Orchard, Snowball Gap had a pair, single male at Hawkbill Rock
Scott Pearson, Mars Hill College,
had 15 bird study sites near Craggy’s, hit and miss, picked up 4 birds, a research
area and High Knob; southwest of Cane River Gap no birds – an older forest; one
in Waynesville watershed; Coweeta watershed no birds
Paul Super, Great Smoky Mountains
National Park, coordinated a host of volunteers, surveyed 52 points and found
three birds, data in the mail to J Gerwin.
Curtis Smalling, Mountain Avian
Research Initiative, 5 new locations of birds from Grandfather Mountain north,
varying number of birds at each location.
John Gerwin, North Carolina Museum
of Natural Sciences, Moses Cone (35 birds in 2002), found three nests, one a
renest in same snag, two nests being excavated, 9 new localities, not all data
summarized, population seems “pretty healthy”; near Sylva (Jackson Co.) and
near Bryson City, on NF lands, on south side of Cherokee Reservation had 5 or 6
birds, responsive to tapes; south of Sylva in Cowee Mtns 4 birds downslope
responded to tape, another volunteer had more birds (Wesser Gap), one at
Licklog Gap, etc. etc., more and more, spent a lot of time in the field and lots
of volunteers, a very good effort, NONE at Max Patch, Meadow Fork, Santeelah
watershed, Stratton Bald (type series area), Cherohala Skyway.
1)
on statements made in SBR plan for YBSA by
Chuck Hunter, USFWS; asking the group and questioning the validity of the
statements made in the plan. Some of
the statements in the SBR may need to be modified, such as,
May not be
as rare as stated
Has a much wider distribution than
other SBR species (more dots on a map)
Occur in other than highly disturbed
forests (?), i.e. Moses Cone is not disturbed
Fewer in Smokies than in the 1930’s
– definitely YES!!
Question raised: Is 5000 pairs a reasonable estimate of a
target pair population size, maybe consider 10,000?
Are these
birds connected or are the populations isolated?
2)
Interesting
to take a look at forest stand history, openings, understory, fire, logging,
homesteading, etc.
3) Winter banding,
blood samples, ??
4) Coordinate with
BBS in the area?
5) Fire seems to be
an important factor in area use (?)
What did
you see, anything in common?
Canopy: N. Red Oak, Yellow Birch, Black Cherry,
N. Red Oak,
Tuliptree, and Hickory seem to be favored forage trees (John Gerwin)
Landscape
issues seem to be important and need further analysis
Questions
raised
WHAT IS
GREAT SAPSUCKER LOOKING HABITAT??
HOW DO WE
QUANTIFY THIS?
This years
surveys can provide an overview of generalization of what habitat conditions
are preferred by sapsuckers and not preferred.
What should we do in future years?
Did the
data sheet work? Most important is the
lat/long data
Context is very important (Klaus)
Continue to collect data as is
(Trombino)
Availability
of habitat for forage and availability of big trees for nesting (Hunter)
Beech gaps might be a good place for
foraging, i.e. sapwells
Rhododendron – may not be good for sapwells because of
Andromeda toxin, but may be suppressing the understory where nesting occurs.
Questions
of migration behavior, roosting, habitat parameters to be measured, and where?
In areas where a good populations is present?
Telemetry
issues?
Graduate
Student needs?
More survey needs or occurrence needs! West Virginia data? Maybe a colleague at Frostburg to do some surveys in Maryland? What about NPS? (Keith will check), What about USFS? (Check will check)
Brown Creeper may be an issue, J Gerwin has requested USFS
information on Brown Creeper
BC probably more common than most people think, is the
general consensus
Golden-winged Warbler**** from
Nathan Klaus’s work!
Ruffed Grouse
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (?) maybe a
linkage here??
Former breeding Alder Flycatchers at
Craggy’s area
Black-billed Cuckoo
Canada Warbler (?)
Volume of
players may affect response. Tiny
players yielded responses but maybe did not lure them to visual distances. John’s player was louder and did attract
birds into visual distance. Feeding
birds in June meant longer response times.
Elevation –
lowest was 3200’.
Potential
research area is Moses Cone, seems to be a fairly high density of sapsuckers in
this area.
USGS
Funding Call
Disturbance
study
Cynthia –
where Matt left off with fourth order work, getting a good start
What new is needed?
Taxonomic status
Species account Eric Walters is working on in about ready
for press and the account does not recognize unique status of the Appalachian
YBSA,
What is the geographical
distribution, north of Mt. Rogers?
Need
some DNA work, primers are available
Migration assessment – geographical behavior, detectable
differences in vocalizations and drummings
Habitat Choice – and
analysis
Nest,
sapwell, and drumming trees
Where do the birds spend the winter? Perhaps an issue here
causing a decline
Banding birds at Moses
Cone
Winter forage quality
Competition
with northern subspecies
Pearson recommends watching sapsuckers for awhile, at least
two seasons, to refine what habitats woodpeckers use for nesting, foraging, and
drumming.
None,
Curtis is absent, has about 65 references that he will give to Scott by end of
month and Scott will put on website.
John and
Scott willing to warehouse data, museum to reposit hard copy, Scott will try to
get an intern to get a student to pull information into electronic data base
linked to georeferenced coordinates. John and Scott will have to talk more to
work out details and how to give public access to database or perform a search
on the database.
Volume may be an issue when more detailed data are required
CD’s can be used
Increased surveys for
2003
Smokies,
areas between Roanoke and Mt. Rogers, need more in Cherokee
Virginia,
MD, and WV
MAPPING
DATA STORAGE
Other info
FS Planning revisions,
Keith to make an outline, Nathan to
provide a first draft, Chuck and John to review and fill in the blanks.
Next Meeting
Late March 2003 to plan 2003 survey efforts. Thursday or Friday March 20-21, 2003 with an alternate of Friday 27-28, 2003.
FRIDAY AUGUST 9, 2002
A field trip was held to visit some areas of YBSA. Details will have to
be provided by someone who attended the trip.
Chris Kelley - USFS, Supervisor’s Office, Asheville, NC
National Forests (NF)
Scott Pearson - Mars Hill College, Mars Hill, NC
Alan Ratzlaff - USFWS, Ecological Services, Asheville, NC
Cindy Trombino - Morehead St. Univ, Morehead, KY
Joe McGinnis - USFS representing Laura Mitchell, Cherokee
NF, TN
Chuck Nicholson - Tennessee Valley Authority
Nora Murdock - NPS Appalachian Highlands Network, Asheville,
NC
Chuck Hunter - USFWS Migratory Birds, Atlanta, GA
John Gerwin - NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Bob Cherry – Blue Ridge Parkway
Mark Johns – NC Wildlife Resources Commission
Gordon Warburton – NC Wildlife Resources Commission
Nathan Klaus – Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Keith Watson – USFWS, Migratory Birds, Manteo, NC