In an Eggshell

Just the Facts: Tamarack

Name a conifer that changes color in the fall, loses its needles in the winter, and has one of the widest ranges of all North American conifers. The correct answer is tamarack (Larix laricina), also called eastern, American, or Alaska larch. More interesting tamarack facts follow.

Growth: Height at maturity reaches 50 to 75 feet, with diameters of 14 to 20 inches. (In interior Alaska, the trees are smaller: 10 feet in height, 3 inches in diameter.)

Sites: Most commonly found in wet or moist organic soils, such as peatlands. Tamarack is not tolerant of shade; a pioneer species, it often is the first tree to invade open bogs or burned peatlands and also commonly forms stands on abandoned farmland or cleared, abandoned sites.

Range: Northern North America, south to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and New England.

Human Uses: Primarily used for pulpwood. Because the wood is durable and resistant to decay, it also is used for posts, poles, and railroad ties.

Wildlife Uses: Porcupines eat the inner bark, snowshoe hares feed on twigs and bark, red squirrels eat the cones’ seeds, and shrews and mice eat the seeds that fall to the ground. Birds such as white-throated sparrow, song sparrow, veery, common yellowthroat, and Nashville warbler eat the needles, buds, or seeds, while osprey often nest in dead tamaracks.

Tree Trivia: Tamarack is a corruption of the Native American word “hackmatack.” Early Americans used the tree’s soft needles for stuffing pillows and mattresses. Tamarack is a member of the Pineaceae family (pines, spruce, and firs) and has a life span of about 180 years.

Heather Lowe, MeadWestvaco
(843) 851-4643, hsl1@meadwestvaco.com

Hardwood Tree Initiative to Restore Floodplains

“This is an unprecedented opportunity to help improve our environment through the sequestration of over 1 million metric tons of greenhouse gases,” said U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Ann Venemen. “This initiative will help restore critical wildlife habitat, while improving water quality and reducing the impact of floods.”

With that pronouncement, the Secretary introduced a new Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) initiative: Bottomland Timber Establishment on Wetlands. Under the initiative, states (except Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Rhode Island) are allocated specific amounts of acreage on their pro-rata share of eligible acreage under the CRP to ensure protection of vital floodplains. Some 500,000 acres across the Nation are eligible for enrollment, with the preponderance of acreage found in the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River valleys and the southern coastal plain. To be eligible, land must be located within a 100-year floodplain, comprised of primarily wetland soils, and adjacent to permanent rivers and streams.

Program participants will receive 50 percent of the cost to establish hardwood trees, an annual rental payment for 14 to 15 years, and technical assistance to plant the trees. Participants also will retain the right to sell or market their carbon-sequestration credits and other environmental credits earned from the bottomland hardwood planting to energy companies or others.

Producers can enroll in the initiative through the CRP. Sign up is on a continuous basis at USDA Farm Service Agency offices. For more information on the initiative, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/dafp/cepd/crpinfo.htm.

Julie Quick, U.S. Department of Agriculture
(202) 720-4623, julie.quick@usda.gov

First Annual Superbowl of Birding

Wicked Pishahs. Super Silly’ums. South Shore Vagrants. These are a sampling of the monikers of 25 teams competing for the Joppa Cup on January 24, 2004, in the First Annual Superbowl of Birding, sponsored by Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Joppa Flats Education Center in Newburyport.

Teams scored points based on an “official checklist” that assigned values of from one to five for each bird. Common birds, such as black-capped chickadee, received one point; the eastern screech-owl, two; and less common birds, like merlin, were worth five. Species seen or heard that weren’t on the list earned five points, with a three-point bonus for the first team to call one in.

The games began at 5:00 a.m., with birders making their way along the seacoast and through neighborhoods, marshes, and woodlands in Essex County, Massachusetts, and Rockingham County, New Hampshire. The competition ended at 5:00 p.m. The 125 participants, ranging in age from 6 to 80, and from as far away as Pennsylvania and Delaware, had endured bone-chilling weather—windchills of 20 below—for a chance to take home the cup.

In all, 125 species were counted. The Joppa Cup, a beautiful Swarovski crystal heron, went to the Swarovski Hawks, which scored a new Massachusetts January Big Day Record of 79 species, worth 165 points. The Hit Squad and the West Hill Caterers tied the previous record of 77 species, for 154 points. The New Hampshire 4th and Longspurs broke the New Hampshire January Big Day Record of 70 species with 75, for 156 points.

Though there were some numb fingers and toes, there was a smile on everyone’s face. At the end of the day, every team considered itself a winner.

Bill Gette, Massachusetts Audubon Society
(978) 462-9998, bgette@massaudubon.org

Migratory Bird Conference in Chile

For the first time in more than 40 years, wildlife officials from 25 countries in the Western Hemisphere met recently and agreed to develop a hemispheric strategy for the conservation of migratory birds—one of our most important and threatened shared wildlife resources. Sponsored by the United States, the Western Hemisphere Migratory Bird Conference took place on October 6 through 8, 2003, in Termas de Puyehue, Chile.

John Turner, Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, led the U.S. delegation, which also included officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, USDA Forest Service, and National Park Service. Representatives of approximately 40 nongovernmental organizations and international conventions also attended.

As a first step, participants identified five priority needs: 1) identification and designation of critical habitats for conservation, 2) capacity building to monitor wildlife, 3) development of training programs, 4) enhanced information sharing, and 5) dealing with threats posed by invasive alien species. Participants also identified tools already available to help address these priorities through national, international, and nongovernmental organizations.

To move from commitment to action, the conference established an Interim Steering Committee comprised of representatives from governments, international environmental conventions, and nongovernmental organizations. This public-private partnership will produce and disseminate information on the status of migratory bird species and habitat throughout the Americas. It will help coordinate the activities of the many organizations involved in conservation in the Western Hemisphere and also will facilitate implementation of concrete measures to safeguard migratory birds from the Arctic to Antarctica. A second hemispheric conference is being considered for early 2005 to assess progress and identify further actions needed.

Robert Sorenson, U.S. Department of State
(202) 647-4268, sorensonra@state.gov

Announcing. . .Triplets!

Not one, not two, but a record-breaking four sets of bald eagle triplets were recorded in 2003 through the Southern Ontario Bald Eagle Monitoring Project (Project). Last year’s monitoring efforts saw the highest recorded number of eaglets produced since monitoring began in 1983, with 44 eaglets observed in 28 active nests. This is a great boost to the population, and is hopefully a positive sign of things to come in a region where, in 1980, the Great Lakes bald eagle population experienced complete reproductive failure.

The presence of bald eagles in the lower Great Lakes has a compelling history. Overcoming challenges, such as loss of habitat, contamination of their food and environment, and direct persecution, they have come back from the brink of extirpation in Ontario. Equally important, partnership efforts between government agencies and nongovernmental organizations, landowners, and volunteer nest-monitors, have sought to restore a healthy bald eagle population in the area.

The Project, initiated in 1983, is a cooperative venture of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Canadian Wildlife Service, Bird Studies Canada, landowners, and volunteers. Every year, landowners and volunteers collect valuable data on bald eagle nesting chronology, nesting activity, and productivity, which helps biologists assess bald eagle health. The results of their work can be found at www.bsc-eoc.org/baeaont.html.

Future prospects for the recovery of bald eagles in Southern Ontario are encouraging. However, the long-term viability of the population remains a concern. Studies have found that Southern Ontario bald eagles may have shortened life spans, possibly due to the accumulation of heavy metals, such as lead and mercury, in their bodies.

Debbie Badzinski, Bird Studies Canada
(519) 586-3531, dbadzinski@bsc-eoc.org

Path of Recovery for Pintails

Northern pintails were once among the continent’s most common waterfowl species. Over the past several decades, populations have declined despite periods of good wetland conditions on the prairies. The recently created Pintail Action Group (Group) of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan strives to keep pintails on the chart with an objective to increase their numbers.

The Group is open to anyone with pintail expertise and interest. Membership reflects the pintail’s range, spanning from the Arctic to just shy of the equator, and includes representatives from the Canadian Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, nongovernmental organizations, state agencies, and academic institutions.

Acting as an advocacy and support forum for pintail conservation in North America, the Group pools activities to address pintail declines. It is the first of its kind under the Plan and is considered an alternative approach to species and habitat joint ventures. Chairing the group is Dr. Karla Guyn from Ducks Unlimited Canada, with Dr. Joseph Fleskes of USGS-Western Ecological Research Center serving as vice-chair.

Initial indications are that grassland loss on the prairies and the species’ predilection for nesting in cropland are the driving forces of the decline. However, habitat loss in wintering and staging areas and possible cross-seasonal effects on productivity are also potential causes.

The Group will promote the research needed to refine and evaluate conservation programs and keep pintails top-of-mind for waterfowl managers.

Dr. Karla Guyn, Pintail Action Group
(204) 467-3325, k_guyn@ducks.ca

A New Birder’s Trail

Looking for that special bird to add to your list? Maybe a Baird’s sparrow, marbled godwit, or Swainson’s hawk? If so, you may want to head to South Dakota, where rolling hills, mountain meadows, and prairie marshes host more than 400 species of resident and migratory birds.

Public parks, wildlife refuges, and waterfowl and game production areas provide accessible birding locations. The new Glacial Lakes and Prairies Birding Trail, jointly developed by South Dakota Department of Tourism and State Development, South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, South Dakota Ornithologists Union, and local birders, will lead you to these locations to take advantage of the State’s birding opportunities. The trail includes about 40 sites in the Glacial Lakes and Prairies Region of northeast South Dakota. A free, full-color guidebook that provides site maps, gives detailed travel directions, and lists species to look for is available to help you along the way.

For more information on birdwatching in South Dakota, or to request a free Glacial Lakes and Prairies Birding Trail guidebook, contact South Dakota Adventures, 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, South Dakota 57501-3369, or call toll free (800) 732-5682.

Name That Beak

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