Thanks, Bill, for a nicely written account of these two new IBAs, and for helping to get the word out about the IBA Program.

I would like to add my personal thanks to all of the people that took part in Bird Blitz last year and enabled us to identify these two new IBAs - our efforts really paid off. A full account of last year's Bird Blitz effort will be forthcoming.

Stay tuned for details of Bird Blitz 2009!


Dave

David Curson, PhD
Director of Bird Conservation,
Audubon MD-DC,
2437 Eastern Avenue,
Baltimore  MD  21224
Tel: (410) 558 2473
E-mail: 



-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Hubick [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 6:57 PM
To: MDOSPREY
Cc: CURSON, David
Subject: MD-DC IBA Program announces two new IBAs



Hi Everyone,

I recently accepted a position on the Maryland-DC IBA Technical Review Committee, and I hope to help with its important work. Dave Curson supported one of my first suggestions, which was that I might help share the latest news on the program. Here is the first of many installments.

(Never heard of the IBA program? Read more at http://www.audubon.org/bird/IBA/)

The Audubon Maryland-DC Important Bird Area (IBA) Program recently identified two new IBAs in Maryland: the Nanticoke IBA and the Monocacy Grasslands IBA.

Nanticoke IBA

Nanticoke IBA was identified for its significant populations of five at-risk species: Bald Eagle, Chuck-will's-widow, Prairie Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, and Worm-eating Warbler. It also hosts Least Bittern and King Rail at populations that probably exceed IBA threshold levels. The new IBA includes the area between Wetipquin Marsh and the Delaware line on the Nanticoke River, as well as Marshyhope Creek up to near Federalsburg. It will protect deciduous swamp forest and upland loblolly pine forest in Wicomico and Dorchester Counties. It covers priority habitat between the Southern Dorchester County IBA (e.g., Blackwater/Elliott Island) and Somerset-Wicomico Marshes IBA (e.g., Deal Island, Fairmount, etc.). The IBA program extends its thanks to Charlie Stegman for coordinating Bird Blitz efforts in the Nanticoke area, and to the other Bird Blitz participants for their hard work. Thank you to Jean and Larry Fry, Ron Gutberlet, Karen and Bill Harris,
 Charles Vaughn, Mike Walsh, and Pete Zerhusen.

To quote Dave Curson, "Important Bird Areas have begun to play a role in protecting land via the land use planning process on the lower shore. The recent vote by Wicomico County's Planning and Zoning Appeals Board to deny the 'Woodlands at Whiton' cluster development proposal was based in part on the site's location within Pocomoke-Nassawango IBA, the premier site on the Delmarva peninsula for forest-interior birds.  I hope the new Nanticoke IBA will similarly help to protect priority wildlife habitat in western Wicomico and eastern Dorchester Counties."

Monocacy Grasslands IBA

Monocacy Grasslands IBA, formerly referenced as the Frederick-Carroll Grasslands IBA, has been designated for its significant populations of Red-headed Woodpecker, Dickcissel, Grasshopper Sparrow, as well as its rich assemblage of grassland species. The site will extend from Route 15 in Frederick County to Route 97 in Carroll County. It will run from the Pennsylvania line south to a boundary that will be refined by further Bird Blitzes in 2009. A priority for Bird Blitz surveys this year will be the Woodsboro-Libertytown-Taylorsville-Medford-Union Bridge region of the two counties. Many thanks to David Smith, Barbara Gearhardt, Mike Welch, Bob Ringler, Jim Wilkinson, and Carol Wilkinson for survey work in the region. Dave also gleened data from MDOsprey reports, including those by Kevin Graff, Joel Martin, and others. Keep reporting!

So what does this mean?

The current focus of the Maryland-DC IBA program is to identify the areas of highest bird conservation importance. Identifying the most important areas, as well as documenting precisely WHY they are so important, is the first step in protecting them.

Read more and view a map of existing Maryland-DC IBAs here:

http://mddc.audubon.org/SciCon_IBAs.html
http://www.audubon.org/bird/iba/maryland/MD-DCIBAs.jpg
(map not updated with most recent additions yet)

What can we do to support the program?

- Participate in Bird Blitzes: A site's qualification for IBA status must be demonstrated by hard data. To gather this data, the program needs volunteers to conduct Bird Blitzes. The concept of a Bird Blitz is to cover an area in territories and count the numbers of at-risk species. This allows a group to count the number of Kentucky Warbler territories, for example, in a relatively large area. More information will be forthcoming on bird blitzes for the quickly approaching breeding season.

- Enjoy your IBAs and report what you find!  While enjoying the most important areas in Maryland and D.C., please report your observations on MDOsprey and eBird. If you are interested in completing more detailed surveys of an IBA or potential IBA, please share your notes with Dave Curson (). Once an IBA is designated, it is important that we continue to monitor it!

Thanks, and good birding!

Bill

Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com