IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS

MARYLAND'S IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS PROGRAM
Important Bird Area planning efforts for Maryland and the District of Columbia began in 1996 when the Maryland Partners in Flight organization and other interested parties met to discuss IBA selection criteria and review site nominations. In 2001, Audubon Maryland-DC assumed management of the program and with the enthusiasm of a volunteer coordinator the program was revitalized. A technical committee was formed bringing together knowledge of birds and their habitats across the state. This committee, with the assistance of the IBA Coordinator, developed new state-level IBA criteria and verified the importance of the 35 previously identified sites. The Audubon Maryland-DC IBA Program has reached out to the local birding community and the public through an IBA web site, presentations, and newspaper interviews.

FEATURED IMPORTANT BIRD AREA
Name: Jug Bay
State: Maryland
Counties: Anne Arundel, Calvert, and Prince George's Counties
Nearest Community: Croom

Site Description: Jug Bay, located near the town of Croom, occupies 2290 acres in Anne Arundel, Calvert, and Prince George's Counties. It consists of mudflats, riparian tidal and nontidal wetlands, mixed forests, and shrub lands along the banks of the Patuxent River.

Ornithological Summary: The Jug Bay Important Bird Area provides breeding habitat for wading birds, migration habitat for shorebirds, and wintering habitat for waterfowl. Wintering waterfowl numbers can run into the thousands and include but are not limited to: Canada Goose (7,965); Greater Scaup (1,500); Tundra Swan (548), Virginia Rail (>4000 in migration).

Conservation Issues: Threats to this area include encroachment by residential development, introduction of non-native plant and animal species, and decreased water quality. This site is home to ever-growing environmental education and research programs and recently has been added to the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. The area surrounding this IBA is a major focus for land acquisition by the State of Maryland.

MASSACHUSSETTS’S IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS PROGRAM
The Massachusetts Important Bird Areas Program, coordinated by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, began in the fall of 2000. This program is structured around a core of IBA staff members who work with a 25-member technical committee to nominate and review candidate sites. The program designated 6 model IBAs in the spring of 2000, and press releases were distributed with information on the program and these sites. Articles appeared in more than 20 newspapers and on National Public Radio. In February 2002, a conference highlighting the IBA program and IBA sites throughout the state was held, with keynote guests such as the Secretary of Environmental Affairs and ornithologist and artist David Sibley.

In December 2002, the nomination period was closed and a voting meeting was held with the technical committee. A total of 90 nominations were voted on and 79 were chosen as IBAs. Since then, the Massachusetts's IBA Program has prepared 1-2 page site summaries and has digitized site boundaries. The summaries are now complete and have been reviewed by nominators, major landowners, and property managers. This fall the site summaries will be posted, along with a general clickable map of IBAs, on the Massachusetts IBA webpage (www.massaudubon.org/iba). The detailed boundaries of IBAs will be used internally for conservation planning activities. In June all of the IBAs were announced through a major press release.

While the first round of IBA nominations is complete, there remain some sites that may meet IBA criteria that have yet to be considered. These are sites that were not nominated, partially due to lack of data. As a result, volunteer monitoring programs are being initiated at several sites with the goal of building enough baseline data to warrant site review. These monitoring programs are typically coordinated through local sanctuaries, which provides an opportunity to engage local stakeholders in outreach and land protection opportunities. In addition, a major multi-year survey effort has begun in Nantucket Sound. This site, while commonly known to support large wintering populations of birds, lacks a solid record of bird data and it is currently under consideration for development of one of the largest offshore windfarms in the world.

Massachusetts Audubon is preparing to start "Phase II" of the IBA program. This phase will begin the process of ranking sites in terms of threats, research needs, and conservation status in order to further prioritize conservation activities. These "Phase II" efforts will begin the process of close collaboration with landowners and the development of site conservation plans. Further, efforts will continue to expand monitoring and outreach efforts on IBA sites where additional data are needed or on sites where annual and long term avian population trends can be easily monitored.

FEATURED IMPORTANT BIRD AREA
Name: Duxbury/Plymouth Bays Complex
State: Massachusetts
County: Plymouth County
Nearest Communities: Duxbury, Kingston, and Plymouth, Massachusetts

Site Description: The Duxbury/Plymouth Bays Complex, within the boundaries of Plymouth, Kingston, and Duxbury, is one of the states largest natural embayments with approximately 10,233 acres of bay, 4,600 acres of mud flats at low tide, 800 acres of salt marsh, and 526 acres of beach. The total length of the shoreline is 55 miles, which includes 16 miles of barrier beach. Over the years the site has typically supported one of the largest tern colonies (5,000 pairs) in New England on Plymouth Beach, one of the largest heronries (over 400 pairs) on Clark’s Island, and significant numbers of migratory and wintering shorebirds and waterfowl. This site meets 8 out of 11 possible criteria categories, making it one of the highest ranked IBAs in the state.

Ornithological Summary: Listed species breeding at this Important Bird Area include Piping Plover, Roseate, Least, Common, and Arctic terns. The 10-acre tern colony at the end of Long Beach has periodically supported 5,000 or more pairs of the four species of terns in the past 100 years. Up to 26 pairs of Piping Plovers (5% of the state population) have nested on the site’s barrier beaches. The heronry on Clark’s Island has supported over 400 pairs of 6 species of egrets, herons, and ibis. The saltmarshes support 5% of the state’s breeding population of the WatchListed Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows. The mudflats attract large numbers of migrant shorebirds, especially in late summer and fall. Waterfowl of many species, including large numbers of WatchListed Brant Geese and Common Eiders, winter in the harbor and just off the beaches. Migrant falcons, passerines, and thousands of tree swallows pass along the beaches in the fall. The site supports nearly 10% of state’s coastal wintering Black Ducks.

Conservation Issues: Overuse of Plymouth and Duxbury beaches by four-wheel drive vehicles is a major disturbance and threat to shorebirds, terns and the federally listed Piping Plover. Erosion control practices on beaches, such as the use of snowfence, discarded Christmas trees, and the planting of beach grass and other vegetation pose serious threats to Least Tern and Piping Plover habitats. Massachusetts Audubon and MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife have attempted to reduce these impacts, but town governments and local people have continued to resist these restrictions.

These bays, with their extensive salt marshes, tidelands, and eel grass beds are major nurseries for marine fish, shellfish, horseshoe crabs, and other marine invertebrates. Several rivers entering the bays of this site, including Eel River, Town Brook, Jones River, Bluefish River, and the Green Harbor Creek, support spawning populations of anadromous and/or catadromous fish species, such as alewives, blueback herring, rainbow smelt, and American eel.

MISSISSIPPI'S IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS PROGRAM
Audubon Mississippi’s Important Bird Areas began with preliminary work in 1997, and with assistance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is now beginning Phase I of the program. Currently, a steering committee is being formed to assist in the overall management of the project and a technical committee is being formed to help guide the site selection and information-gathering process. To date, 22 sites have been nominated as Candidate Important Bird Areas, and information is being gathered on additional sites. When formally identified, Important Bird Areas in Mississippi will be found in the bottomland hardwood forests of the Mississippi River floodplain and along other major rivers, in upland forests, in remaining longleaf pine forests, in native prairie and wet pine savanna habitats, on barrier islands in the Gulf of Mexico, and elsewhere. Audubon Mississippi’s Important Bird Areas Program is a result of the efforts of the Audubon Mississippi State Office and partnerships with the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science and the Mississippi Ornithological Society.

CANDIDATE* IMPORTANT BIRD AREA
Name: Pascagoula River Wildlife Management Area
State: Mississippi
Counties: Jackson and George Counties
Nearest Communities: Lucedale and Moss Point

Site Description: The Pascagoula River Wildlife Management Area is part of one of healthiest riverine ecosystems in the Southeastern United States. Bottomland hardwood forests cover 77 percent of the area along with aquatic habitats (14 percent), pine forests (4 percent), freshwater scrub/shrub (2 percent) and other mixed habitats (3 percent). The management area stretches along most of the 81 miles of the Pascagoula River, which flows from the confluence of the Leaf and Chickasawhay rivers to the Gulf of Mexico. The Pascagoula basin, covering 8,800 square miles, is the largest, essentially unfragmented river system in the lower 48 United States, representing critical breeding, migrating and wintering habitat for a multitude of birds and other wildlife.

Ornithological Summary: The Pascagoula River Wildlife Management Area (WMA) provides essential habitat for the WatchListed Swallow-tailed Kite, with an average of 40 kites seen per day on surveys during the 1999 nesting season (March-July). As many as 167 Swallow-tailed Kites were observed during post-breeding plane surveys in July and August 1999. Swallow-tailed Kites have been documented nesting within the WMA, with three nests found on the upper Pascagoula River portion in 1999 and four additional nests located on other public and private lands nearby. The area is important not only for Swallow-tailed Kites but also Mississippi Kites, with an average of 40 recorded per day in the WMA during the 1999 breeding season. In addition to raptors, the Pascagoula River area provides critical habitat for other Neotropical migrants, especially songbirds. The area also provides nesting habitat for WatchListed species, including Swainson’s, Prothonotary and Kentucky Warblers. Small groups of Wood Storks also occur in the area in late summer.

Conservation Issues: Major conservation issues in the area include the encroachment of invasive plants such as Japanese climbing fern, privet, and cogongrass, and the implementation of forest management practices.

Audubon Mississippi, The Nature Conservancy, and other partners organized the Singing River Symposium in September 2001. The conference, attended by 160 people, focused on conservation, education, and research relating to the Pascagoula River (digital proceedings will be produced; see contact below). The partners also organized “Celebrate the Pascagoula” in October 2001, a one-day event attended by 250 people to recognize the 25th anniversary of the acquisition of public land for the Pascagoula River Wildlife Management Area. In addition, Audubon is a partner in the formation of an alliance for promoting conservation, education and research in the Pascagoula River basin.

* Candidate sites are being considered for designation as Important Bird Areas by the State Technical Committee.

MONTANA’S IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS PROGRAM

FEATURED IMPORTANT BIRD AREA
Name: Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge
State: Montana
County: Beaverhead County
Nearest Communities: Lima, Montana

Site Description: Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge Important Bird Area is located at the upper end of the Centennial Valley in southwestern Montana, where the flow of Red Rock Creek creates Upper Red Rock Lake, River Marsh, and Lower Red Rock Lake marshlands. At 6,600 feet in elevation, the refuge is primarily a high elevation mountain wetland-riparian area, bordered by the Centennial Mountains to the south and the Gravelly Mountain range to the north. Red Rock Lakes NWR has been designated as a National Natural Landmark and is one of the few marshland Wilderness Areas in the country. The Refuge consists of diverse habitats ranging from wetlands, mudflats, willow riparian habitat, and grasslands, to aspen and conifer forest to subalpine.

Ornithological Summary: Established in 1935 to protect the rare and WatchListed Trumpeter Swan, the refuge continues to be one of the more important locations in North America for these birds. The refuge's unique and diverse habitat has attracted more than two hundred bird species. Included in this list are WatchListed species as well as those identified as state priority species: Barrow's Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Long-billed Curlew, Wilson's Phalarope, Peregrine Falcon, Prairie Falcon, Golden and Bald Eagles, Northern Goshawk, Swainson's Hawk, Great Gray Owl, Short-eared Owl, American Dipper, Clark's Nutcracker, Red Crossbill, Blue Grouse, Sage Grouse, Sage Thrasher, Willow Flycatcher, and Black Rosy-Finch.

Conservation Issues: The Refuge, which is managed primarily for primitive wilderness values, is fairly intact. Efforts continue to secure private inholdings. There are some credible threats from development and resource extraction on adjoining lands (mostly private). Increased public use and the spread of noxious weed species are also of concern.

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