Last week's CarolinaBirds listserv discussion about the decline of Cerulean
Warblers along the Roanoke River in NC prompted me to report on the
Ceruleans along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville. These Ceruleans
spend the breeding season in Audubon NC's Bull Creek Important Bird Area,
and can be found along the Parkway road from roughly Craven Gap (MP 377.3)
in the south to half a mile north of Lane Pinnacle Overlook (MP 371.6) to
the north, as well as along the Mountains-to-Sea Trail that runs from
Craven Gap north toward Rattle Snake Lodge.
The population had numbered very roughly 20-24 territorial males. In 2011
it suddenly shot up to about 40 and stayed the same in 2012. But since then
there has been a steady decline in numbers: from 35 to 27 to 18 in 2015.
(These numbers are based on spot-mapping and analysis of song patterns.)
We won’t know until all the data is analyzed how many territorial males are
up there now, but it does not look good. Several days ago there was only
one or possibly two Ceruleans between Craven Gap and the Weaverville exit
at Ox Creek Road (MP 375.6), and except for the MTS Trail starting at Ox
Creek Road and going north toward Rattle Snake Lodge, the numbers are down
in each of the traditional areas north of the Weaverville exit. I did find
three first-year males about 0.2 miles south of Lane Pinnacle Overlook, but
it seems that quite a few males from last year did not return.
As for loss of habitat and cowbirds, the situation along the Blue Ridge
Parkway is very different from that along the Roanoke River. There has only
been one very small timber harvest near the Cerulean area, and that took
place several years ago. Brown-headed Cowbirds can’t be blamed, either,
because I find only one or at most two in the IBA every other year or so.
My hypothesis is that the NC population declines are part of the larger
picture. All NC Ceruelan populations are located along the southern edge of
the Cerulean’s range. In Canada, where Ceruleans are located at the
northern edge of the species’ range, the bird was up-listed to Endangered
in 2010 by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada
(COSEWIC).
Problems exist everywhere, from the wintering grounds through the migration
routes to the breeding grounds, but with only about 10% of the Cerulean’s
wintering grounds still more or less intact, this beautiful sky-blue bird
faces enormous challenges.
Charlotte Goedsche
goedsche@xxxxxxxx
