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Swainson's Warbler nest



This past weekend I found a Swainson's Warbler nest (from last year) in the
Croatan National Forest, near Havelock.  The nest (or almost all of it) was
on the ground in a patch of cane.  A little bit of the nest was still
attached to cane stalks.  I will be checking the area to see if Swainson's
breed there this year (didn't hear any this weekend).

In the same Pond Pine Woodland/Wet Pine Flats area I also had Ovenbirds,
Black-and-white Warblers, 3 or 4 Black-throated Green Warblers, and
Prothonotary Warblers, and others.  This is one of the types of habitats in
which Black-throated Green Warblers, a declining species in the Coastal
Plain, breed within the Croatan.

Unfortunately this nice area of National Forest will be destroyed by the new
Havelock Bypass.

Although this area is a wetland, there will be no wetland mitigation for it.
The reason being that the consultants that did the environmental work on the
project for DOT and the Corps of Engineers have ruled that this area is a
"biological wetland" but is not a "jurisdictional wetland".

                                         John Fussell
                                         Morehead City, NC
                                         jfuss@clis.com