Wood stork nesting takes

hit from rain at wrong times

Stork stats

• Colonies in the state this year ranged in size from four nests at a Grady County rookery to 464 at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge in McIntosh County. Colonies in southwest Georgia are usually less stable than those in coastal counties, where many wetlands used by storks are influenced by tides – more reliable than rainfall.
  
• Wood storks were federally listed as endangered when breeding pairs in the Southeast dropped to about 5,000 in the late 1970s, down from as many as 20,000 in the 1930s.
  
• About 12,000 pairs nest in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
  
• Georgia has about 20 percent of the U.S. nesting population.
  
• The first record of wood storks nesting in Georgia was in 1965 on Blackbeard Island.
  
• More than 75 percent of stork rookeries in Georgia are on private land. The success of conservation efforts for this species depends on landowners’ willingness to ensure the protection of viable freshwater wetland nesting sites.
  
• Regionally, populations must reach the recovery goal – a three-year average of 6,000 pairs and 1.5 chicks per nest – to down-list the species to threatened, a move the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is weighing.

Yuchi WMA Study keys on keeping relocated tortoises put    On sandy scrubland within sight of Plant Vogtle’s cooling towers, scientists are working to learn how to cool the heels of relocated gopher tortoises.    Insights from the State Wildlife Grants-funded study at Yuchi Wildlife Management Area will be used to conserve Georgia’s state reptile, and possibly help keep it off the federal endangered species list in the eastern part of its range. (The tortoise is already federally listed in Mississippi, Louisiana and part of Alabama.)    The gopher tortoise is a keystone species in longleaf pine communities. Its burrows provide habitat for hundreds of other species. Its vegan diet returns nutrients and seeds to the soil. But, like most reptiles, gopher tortoises also have “very strong site fidelity,” said senior wildlife biologist John Jensen.    They know where they came from and often try to return – undercutting efforts to conserve them.    The study at Yuchi, adjacent to the Vogtle nuclear plant south of Augusta, centers on two acclimation “pens,” each covering about 2.5 acres and surrounded by silt fence. One pen that had been home to 18 relocated gopher tortoises since last fall was removed this month. The Orianne Society, a nonprofit conservation organization working with the DNR, is using radio transmitters to track 10 of those turtles.    The other pen, donated and built this month by Morgan Corp. of South Carolina, will hold tortoises displaced from land development in Brunswick and Valdosta. That pen will be pulled next spring.    On a rainy day three weeks ago, Orianne Society research ecologist Javan Bauder, head of tortoise trapping and monitoring, was setting live traps in burrows in the first pen and weighing and marking a young tortoise bound for the second. Before-and-after body weights will help gauge the quality of forage in the pens, determining if they’re large enough to maintain healthy tortoises during their acclimation period.    But it’s the tracking that will hopefully link the time held to success in relocating tortoises. Those simply turned loose at a new site “tend to start bee-lining back to where they came from,” Jensen said.    One south Georgia tortoise in a different study traveled 13 miles after it was released.    The Yuchi project is aimed at keeping displaced gopher tortoises put after the fences go down, contributing to the species’ conservation in the long run – or crawl.

In the neighborhood

The project at Yuchi also involves Plant Vogtle, Southern Company, Georgia Power, The Nature Conservancy and DNR’s Game Management Section. Georgia Power is restoring longleaf pine and other habitat near Yuchi WMA that could also serve as a relocation site for displaced tortoises. The area is already part of the Safe Harbor management program for federally endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers. Yuchi’s gopher tortoise numbers are not considered viable without augmentation. Releasing tortoises will bolster the population at the Burke County WMA, where prescribed fire is being used to restore habitat for such fire-adapted species. While doing related tortoise research at Yuchi recently, John Jensen and Nongame Program Manager Matt Elliott discovered a population of sandhills milk-vetch, state-listed as threatened. Read more about the Yuchi gopher tortoise project in this Augusta Chronicle story.

Noteworthy

The young bald eagle found emaciated by DNR Paradise Public Fishing Area staff and rehabilitated by the Southeastern Raptor Center received a rousing welcome home at the Berrien County PFA June 16. About 100 people watched as the released eagle flew across a field, landed in a pine tree and was promptly harassed by crows (left).    A controlled burns slideshow, with revealing before-and-after photos of tracts treated with prescribed fire, is featured on The Nature Conservancy’s website. (Also see “Green fires,” June 13, 2012.)    A case involving the shooting an endangered whooping crane has a South Dakota man facing charges of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and witness tampering. Jeff Blachford pleaded not guilty. He allegedly killed the crane and a hawk in April near Miller, South Dakota, then tried to persuade a witness to withhold information, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.    Encourage your kids to "Get to know your wild neighbors" this summer. The free contest offers prizes such as a trip to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park to encourage youth to connect with nature through the arts. Details.    The Georgia Naturalist Rally at Stone Mountain Park Sept. 15 will explore the park's natural areas with hikes and other activities, some led by DNR biologists. Learn more.    The black-capped petrel may warrant federal protection. The recent “90-day finding” by the Fish and Wildlife Service triggers a more thorough status review of biological information about the seabird species, which ranges from the Caribbean to the North Carolina.    Endangered species take center stage in a new Fish and Wildlife Service website. Included is an interactive map, podcasts and videos. (For details on Georgia’s rare species, check out DNR's profiles.)

Headlines

Video: "Eagle released into the wild," WALB-TV (Albany)    "Feds propose new N.C. wildlife refuge," Charlotte (N.C.) Observer    "U-M ecologists call for preservation of planet's remaining biological diversity," University of Michigan    "New facility dedicated at MEEC," The Lincoln Journal    "'Franklin’ finds new home at GSU’s Wildlife Center," Effingham Herald    "Kudzu-eating sheep arrive at Chastain," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution    "Rehabbed sea turtle headed to Pittsburgh from Georgia Sea Turtle Center," The Florida Times-Union

Parting shot

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