Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 17:15:13 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Phragmites ad nauseum MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii In a post of Feb. 20 Mike Callahan asked why I commented recently on Phragmites (and perhaps Mike was also curious about my English Ivy query, which I have yet to hear from anyone about). Basically I just wanted to share some of my readings and experiences, esp. if they might not be common knowledge. I have no hidden Phragmites agenda and am surprised I might be regarded in the light of a Phragmites apologist. The Phrag bad news is well known. The good news I don't believe is. The more we know, presumably the better. Phrags have alarmed me, for certain. I have watched how in the past 15 years it has taken over most of what little saltmarsh there is in our Talbot County cove, crowding out the "Spartina patens" and to some extent the "Spartina alterniflora". We now boast a small Red-winged roost, esp. since the neighbors have destroyed their rather extensive bamboo thicket. In a lifetime of weekend commuting from Philadelphia to Talbot County I have watched Phrags completely take over the Red Lion Creek marshes near Delaware City, DE (near here was a fall roost of blackbirds that at one time was estimated at 21,000,000 birds roosting in Phrags south of the Delaware-Chesapeake Canal, in another area taken over by this reed.). Superficially at least Phragmites resembles "Spartina cynosuroides", the tall plant common along many of the watercourses at Elliott Island. I have found "cyno" to be a good place to find Marsh Wrens, Seaside and Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows, esp. late in the summer after the breeding season. Perhaps these marsh species also favor Phrags then. For a couple of years I served on a committee that discussed ways of managing a 42-acre spoil island off the northeast tip of Barren Island, Dorchester County. In spite of the best efforts of some of the engineers and biologists concerned, Phrags became well-established here in an area where it was hoped Least Terns might start a colony. But to my delight the developing saltmarsh attracted a few breeding Clapper Rails, Least Bitterns, Willets, Marsh Wrens, and Seaside Sparrows in the lower areas where Phrags did not spread. This was all on an island that began as bare dirt and mud from the dredge spoil. If anyone's interested I can mail them a photocopy of the "Records of New Jersey Birds" article on bird use of Phrags if you don't have access to this magazine. Reply to me directly rather than to MDOSPREY, please. This Phrags stuff is all somewhat "off topic" (hence perhaps we {I} should "give it a rest") but my earlier posts had mentioned Phrags as a sort of aside and contained much else that was strictly for the birdies, if it please the purists. I didn't mean to start "a thing". On the other hand, what is cuter than a Mute Swan cygnet? (A Trumpeter Swan cygnet Just kidding.) How much do we still have to learn about these swans? I don't like them being here but perhaps they do some good, such as spreading SAV seeds through their droppings. And how about Hydrilla? I haven't heard much about that lately but a few years ago we were constantly hearing about the good shorebird and waterfowl turnout in Hydrilla beds on the Potomac. All the best.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119. 215-248-4120. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================