[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: A reliable spot for Painted Bunting?



As a former Forest Service employee (District Ranger, Green Mountain NF,
Rocherster, Vermont) I would encourage you to call or write the USFS
folks that manage the Cedar Point Tideland Trail.  Great people,
well-intentioned, but sadly not yet focused on non-game wildlife as a
driver of management activity.  Tell 'em that painted buntings like
brush not pine plantations and that buntings attract people who will
appreciate customer-focused management.  I guarantee that Smokey will
listen to knowledgeable advice and suggestions.

Tom Striker
Dunwoody, GA (Atlanta 'burb)
working for the phone company now (how did that happen?)
tstriker@bellsouth.net

John Fussell wrote:

> 25 April 2000
>
> This weekend--while leading a bird tour--
> I found a very cooperative singing adult male
> Painted Bunting at the Cedar Point Tideland
> Trail--U.S. Forest Service--near Cape Carteret,
> NC.
>
> In the past, I've had only an occasional Painted
> Bunting here.  There was some suitable habitat,
> but it was limited in extent.  However, I'm
> predicting that this will become a good spot
> for Painteds during the next few years.  Much of
> the area the trail runs through was until recently
> a dense growth of pine trees.  However, the
> '96 hurricanes changed that.  Most of the pines
> were killed by salt spray, and the area is now
> growing up as a dense thicket of shrubs and
> vines--wax myrtle, yaupon, live oak, wild muscadine, etc.
> Great habitat for Painteds, or will become so in
> a couple of years--right now is mostly just a couple
> of feet high.
>
> The Forest Service was considering "restoring"
> the area to dense pine plantations, but
> may have abandoned that idea.  Let's hope so.
>
> John Fussell
> Morehead City, NC
> jfuss@bmd.clis.com