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Posted by Alex Harper on 23:09:58 05/25/11
In Reply to: Re: A New Bird for My Palm Beach County List posted by Mike Baranski
Surely this if fairly similar to the situation faced by several pineland species in Everglades National Park. Pinelands are especially sensitive to exotic introductions and are of course fire-dependent.
Historically, the slash pine community in Everglades National Park harbored typical pineland species, but the spread of invasive plants, disturbance, and likely fire suppression beat back the Wild Turkey, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Eastern Bluebird populations. The aforementioned species, to my knowledge, have all been reintroduced to the Research Road/Long Pine Key area of ENP.
Bachman's Sparrows are more fickle than those species, requiring healthy wire grass communities with little understory and the duration of burns being no longer than two to three years. If the areas of Collier County went without natural or controlled burns for just several years in a row, suitable habitat would have been nonexistent. The sparrow population likely retracted. Perhaps a reintroduction and subsequent management is possible now.
However, I have never been to Corbett nor Picayune Strand State Forest, so I don't know what the habitat looks like or the burn history for the sites.
The timing for this discussion couldn't have been better. I am writing a research paper at the very moment on fire regimes in Longleaf Pine communities, and one of my sources is the following:
http://www.nwtf.org/NAWTMP/downloads/Literature/Breeding_Productivity_Bachman_Sparrows.pdf
Alex Harper
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