Partners In Flight
WestGulf Coastal Plain Bird Conservation Region
Bird Conservation Plan(Draft)
May 1, 2003
I. Introduction and Methodology
Introduction
The West Gulf Coastal Plain Bird Conservation Region (WGCP) covers about 15 million ha (37 million acres) of northwest Louisiana, southwest Arkansas, easternmost Texas, and the southeast corner of Oklahoma (Fig 1). Pines dominate this area, largely shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) in the north, including the Ouachita Mountains, and longleaf pine (P. palustris) in the south. Bottomland hardwood forest occurs along the Arkansas, Ouachita, Sabine, Neches, and RedRivers as well as in other river flood plains.
Partners In Flight (PIF) previously prepared Bird Conservation Plans based on physiographic areas (Fitzgerald and Pashley 2000, Taulman et al. 1999). Two of the PIF physiographic areas were partially combined to form the WGCP Bird Conservation Region. PIF’s Ozark/Ouachita (Fitzgerald and Pashley 2000) and West Gulf Coastal Plain (Taulman et al. 1999) physiographic area Bird Conservation Plans were used as starting points for this plan. Those physiographic area plans focused on land birds. This plan also focuses on land birds, but has been prepared in concert with planning for waterfowl, shorebirds, and other waterbirds in the WGCP Bird Conservation Region. So this plan covers a different area than PIF’s physiographic area plans and is designed to compliment similar planning for the conservation of other birds.
The WGCP in eastern Texas is under 300m (1,000 ft.) in elevation and encompasses the “piney woods”, historically a region dominated by pine, mixed pine/hardwood, and bottomland hardwood forests. Shortleaf , longleaf, and loblolly pine (P. taeda) are common along with oaks, hickories (Carya spp.), elm (Ulmus spp.), gum, and bald-cypress (Taxodium distichum). Softwood timber production is the major industry. Poultry is an important industry in Panola, Shelby, and adjoining counties. The main river drainage are the Sabine, Neches-Angelina, and Trinity.
In Arkansas elevations are from 60 - 120m (200 - 400 ft). The Arkansas River valley occupies a transitional zone between the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains. While a large part of the valley is undulating lowlands, flat topped mountains and long, forested ridges are also present. The Ouachita Mountains are a ridge and valley system of east-west trending mountains to the south of the Arkansas River valley. Oak/pine forest historically dominated much of the Arkansas portion of the WGCP.. Vaccinium (Vaccinium spp.), honeysuckle (Smilax spp.), and poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) are common in the mixed oak/pine understories. Much of the oak/pine forest has been cut and replanted in monoculture loblolly pine plantations. In pine forests, shortleaf is typical of drier areas and loblolly is found in wetter spots. Bottomland hardwood forests occurred along the Red, Little, Ouachita, and Little Missouri Rivers. Much of this forest has been converted to agricultural production. Poultry and timber are important industries.
In the WGCP of Louisiana lowlands are only 15m (50 ft.) or less above sea level and the northwest uplands rise to 90m (300 ft.). Bottomland hardwood forests were historically located in the floodplains of the Red, Sabine, and OuachitaRivers. Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) is currently the dominant in both the bottomland hardwood and in the oak/hickory forest remaining in the WGCP of Louisiana.
Somebody please write a similar paragraph for Oklahoma
The Ouachita Mountains extend into Oklahoma. Most of the oak/pine forest in southeast Oklahoma have been converted to short rotation pine plantations.
The pine habitat in the WGCP has undergone dramatic changes, even though some type of pine still dominates most of the landscape. The area was originally longleaf in the southern portion, with some loblolly pine in drainages protected from fire. This graded into shortleaf with some intermixed hardwood to the north. All of this was fire maintained. Virtually all of it was cut in the early 1900's, which in itself would not have been a grave problem. However, fire suppression and either intentional or neglectful practices have resulted in replacement of the native species with loblolly or introduced slash pine (P. elliottii). More recently much of the area has been planted in short rotation plantations. This has been particularly harmful to the Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis), which requires old pine stands, but has also had a negative effect on other pine birds that thrive under pine savannah conditions. Young pine plantations typically do not support many birds. Maintenance and restoration of older, fire maintained pine stands must be a high priority for public and perhaps some private lands in much of the WGCP.
Keeping as much of the region in forests as possible, even short rotation loblolly, is better for birds than conversion to pasture or other uses. The large amount of forest in this bird conservation region, especially in the Ouachita Mountains, may be above that required to maintain forest breeding bird populations. As such this region may be a source for birds to colonize other geographic areas where reproductive rates of forest birds are extremely low. Research in the midwest has shown that such “source-sink” dynamics result primarily from the effects of high levels of brood parasitism and nest predation in areas where forest fragments fall below a size of approximately 4,000 ha or where forest coverage across broad landscapes falls below 70 percent. Therefore maintaining the forest landscape needed to support source populations of forest birds should be a high priority for the WGCP.
Bottomland hardwood forest has also been greatly reduced and fragmented. This is due not only to conversion to agriculture and other uses, but also because of flooding by numerous reservoirs, especially in east Texas. Bottomland hardwoods are not only important for many high priority, area sensitive breeding birds, but are also valuable to spring migrants. Radar images show huge numbers of migrants descending into bottomland hardwoods relatively close to the coast upon completing their Gulf of Mexico crossing. Maintenance of these forests may have conservation implications that extend well beyond the WGCP.
Priority Species and Habitat Suites
The highest priority land birds in the WGCP are Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Swainson’s Warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii), and Swallow-tailed Kite (Elanoides forficatus). Once priority species were identified for the WGCP as a whole, the landbird group then defined several habitat categories broad enough for planning purposes yet specific enough to be ecologically relevant to bird conservation (Table 1). Our planning efforts focused on these habitat categories. Understanding that conservation action would be directed at habitats, not individual species, we organized priority landbirds into species suites representative of each habitat and attempted to identify "umbrella" species that would guide our planning efforts for the whole suite. We assumed that conservation actions directed at the suite of priority species or even a single umbrella species representative of a given habitat, would promote conservation of the entire avifauna in that habitat. In each case this assumption was closely examined.
We identified 14 habitat categories of relevance to landbirds:
Agricultural – Cropland
Agricultural – Pastureland
Early Successional – Old Field
Early Successional – Clear Cut
Upland Hardwood/Mixed Pine-Hardwood Forest
BottomlandHardwoodForest
Pine Plantation
Pine Savannah
"Other" PineForest Not Plantation
Riparian
Tall Grasslands
Urban
Marshland
Open Water
We chose to pursue development of planning models for seven of these habitats based on the ecological requirements of priority species found in each. We investigated the use of the "umbrella" species concept for each of these where applicable. These seven habitats are: bottomland hardwood forest, pine savannah, "other" pine forest not plantation, upland hardwood/mixed pine-hardwood forest, riparian, early successional-old field, and tall grasslands.
Best management practices were developed for five other habitat types: early successional-clear cut, agriculture-cropland, agriculture-pastureland, pine plantation, and urban. Although these habitats are important to several priority species, we do not want to promote expansion of these habitats by developing models and quantitative objectives for them. Rather, we hope to promote actions on these lands appropriate for and compatible with bird conservation.
The remaining habitats, open water and marshland, provide important habitat for the fewest priority landbirds. It was assumed that appropriate models for these habitats would be developed by other technical groups focusing on waterfowl and waterbirds, thus the landbird group did not consider them. Our goal is to ensure that the waterfowl and waterbird technical groups give proper consideration to the priority landbird species that co-occupy these habitats when developing their models and objectives.
Table 1
Priority Bird Species by Habitat Type
BottomlandHardwoodForest
Definition of habitat type - Areas dominated by woody broadleaf vegetation (including bald-cypress) that is periodically or seasonally flooded (hydric to mesic).
IA. Extremely High Overall Concern
Swallow-tailed Kite
Swainson’s Warbler
IB. High Overall Concern
American Woodcock
Red-headed Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Wood Thrush
Yellow-throated Warbler
Cerulean Warbler (does not breed in the southern 2/3 of the BCR)
Prothonotary Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Orchard Oriole
IIA. Regional Concern
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Pileated Woodpecker
Carolina Chickadee
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Towhee (mostly winter; a few breeding records from western portion of BCR)
Black-and-white Warbler
Rusty Blackbird
IIB. Regional Responsibility
Yellow-breasted Chat
Summer Tanager
IIC. Regional Threats
None
IIIA. U.S. Watch List Species
None
IIIB. Federally Listed Species
Bald Eagle
IVAState and Provincial Listed Species
None
IVB. Local Management Interest
Red-shouldered Hawk
Wild Turkey
PineForest in two parts
Secondary habitat2 species - White-eyed Vireo, Worm-eating Warbler, Swainson’s Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Towhee, Eastern Meadowlark.
Pine Savannah
Definition of habitat type - A forest that is greater than 80 percent pine and has a very low basal area.
IA. Extremely High Overall Concern
Red-cockaded Woodpecker - umbrella species1
IB. High Overall Concern
American Kestrel (paulus)
Red-headed Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Loggerhead Shrike
Brown-headed Nuthatch - umbrella species
Prairie Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Bachman’s Sparrow
Henslow’s Sparrow (mostly winter; may be sporadic breeding in Arkansas River valley)
Le Conte’s Sparrow
IIA. Regional Concern
Northern Bobwhite
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Carolina Chickadee
IIB. Regional Responsibility
Pine Warbler - umbrella species
Yellow-breasted Chat
Summer Tanager
IIC. Regional Threats
Sedge Wren
IIIA. U.S. Watch List Species
None
IIIB. Federally Listed Species
None
IVA. State and Provincial Listed Species
None
IVB. Local Management Interest
Wild Turkey
“Other” PineForest Not Plantation
Definition of Habitat Type - All forests that are greater that 80 percent pine and neither a savannah nor a plantation.
IA. Extremely High Overall Concern
None
IB. High Overall Concern
Chuck-will’s-widow
Brown-headed Nuthatch - umbrella species
IIA. Regional Concern
Pileated Woodpecker
Carolina Chickadee
IIB. Regional Responsibility
Pine Warbler - umbrella species
Yellow-breasted Chat
Summer Tanager
IIC. Regional Threats
None
IIIA. U.S. Watch List Species
None
IIIB. Federally Listed Species
None
IVA. State and Provincial Listed Species
None
IVB. Local Management Interest
Wild Turkey
Upland Hardwood/Mixed Pine-HardwoodForest
Definition of Habitat Type - All forest that is less than 80 percent pine and usually not flooded.
IA. Extremely High Overall Concern
None
IB. High Overall Concern
American Woodcock
Chuck-will’s-widow - umbrella species
Red-headed Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Yellow-throated Vireo - umbrella species
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Worm-eating Warbler - umbrella species
Kentucky Warbler - umbrella species
Hooded Warbler
IIA. Regional Concern
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - umbrella species
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Pileated Woodpecker
Carolina Chickadee
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Black-and-white Warbler
IIB. Regional Responsibility
Pine Warbler
Summer Tanager
IIC. Regional Threats
None
IIIA. U.S. Watch List Species
None
IIIB. Federally Listed Species
None
IVA. State and Provincial Listed Species
None
IVB. Local Management Interest
Red-shouldered Hawk
Wild Turkey - preliminary umbrella species
Scarlet Tanager
Riparian
Definition of Habitat Type - Stream borders less than 100 feet wide (more than 100 feet wide becomes bottomland hardwood forest) where the vegetative composition is influenced by flooding and/or the moisture regime of the stream.
Secondary habitat species - Painted Bunting
IA. Extremely High Overall Concern
Swainson’s Warbler
IB. High Overall Concern
Acadian Flycatcher
Bell’s Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
Wood Thrush
Yellow-throated Warbler
Cerulean Warbler (does not breed in the southern 2/3 of the BCR)
Prothonotary Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Louisiana Waterthrush - umbrella species
Kentucky Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Orchard Oriole
IIA. Regional Concern
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Pileated Woodpecker
Carolina Chickadee
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Rusty Blackbird
IIB. Regional Responsibility
Summer Tanager
IIC. Regional Threats
None
IIIA. U.S. Watch List Species
None
IIIB. Federally Listed Species
None
IVA. State and Provincial Listed Species
None
IVB. Local Management Interest
Red-shouldered Hawk
Wild Turkey
Early Successional in two parts
Secondary habitat species - Kentucky Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Bachman’s Sparrow, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and Dickcissel.
Old Field
Definition of Habitat Type - Lands dominated by woody vegetation less than 20 feet tall usually produced by the abandonment of agricultural land.
IA. Extremely High Overall Concern
None
IB. High Overall Concern
American Kestrel (paulus)
American Woodcock
White-eyed Vireo
Bell’s Vireo
Bewick’s Wren
Brown Thrasher
Prairie Warbler
Field Sparrow
Orchard Oriole
IIA. Regional Concern
Northern Bobwhite
Eastern Kingbird
IIB. Regional Responsibility
None
IIC. Regional Threats
Painted Bunting
IIIA. U.S. Watch List Species
None
IIIB. Federally Listed Species
None
IVA. State and Provincial Listed Species
None
IVB. Local Management Interest
Rufous-crowned Sparrow (only in Arkansas River valley)
Lark Sparrow
Clear Cut
Definition of Habitat Type - Early successional (less than 20 feet tall) habitat that is generated by forest management.
IA. Extremely High Overall Concern
None
IB. High Overall Concern
American Kestrel (paulus)
American Woodcock
White-eyed Vireo
Brown Thrasher
Prairie Warbler
Orchard Oriole
IIA. Regional Concern
Eastern Towhee
IIB. Regional Responsibility
Yellow-breasted Chat
IIC. Regional Threats
None
IIIA. U.S. Watch List Species
None
IIIB. Federally Listed Species
None
IVA. State and Provincial Listed Species
None
IVB. Local Management Interest
None
Tall Grasslands
Definition of Habitat Type - Areas clearly dominated by herbaceous vegetation greater than 10 inches tall at the peak of the growing season. Cultivated hay fields and pastures are excluded.
Secondary habitat species - American Woodcock
IA. Extremely High Overall Concern
None
IB. High Overall Concern
American Kestrel (paulus)
Short-eared Owl
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
Henslow’s Sparrow
Le Conte’s Sparrow
IIA. Regional Concern
Northern Bobwhite - umbrella species
Eastern Kingbird
Grasshopper Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
IIB. Regional Responsibility
None
IIC. Regional Threats
Northern Harrier
Sedge Wren
Dickcissel
IIIA. U.S. Watch List Species
None
IIIB. Federally Listed Species
None
IVA. State and Provincial Listed Species
None
IVB. Local Management Interest
Yellow Rail
Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Agricultural in two parts
Secondary habitat species - Short-eared Owl, Sedge Wren, Painted Bunting, Le Conte’s Sparrow, and Dickcissel.
Cropland
Definition of Habitat Type - Land under active cultivation including field borders.
IA. Extremely High Overall Concern
None
IB. High Overall Concern
American Kestrel (paulus)
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
Bewick’s Wren
Brown Thrasher
Sprague’s Pipit
Field Sparrow
Harris’s Sparrow
IIA. Regional Concern
Northern Bobwhite
Eastern Kingbird
Eastern Meadowlark
IIB. Regional Responsibility
None
IIC. Regional Threats
Northern Harrier
IIIA. U.S. Watch List Species
None
IIIB. Federally Listed Species
None
IVA. State and Provincial Listed Species
None
IVB. Local Management Interest
American Bittern
Snow Goose
Yellow Rail
King Rail
Lark Sparrow
Pastureland
Definition of Habitat Type - Grazed land including field borders.
IA. Extremely High Overall Concern
None
IB. High Overall Concern
American Kestrel (paulus)
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
Bewick’s Wren
Brown Thrasher