The Important Bird Areas of Florida - National Audubon Society

The Important Bird Areas of Florida: 2000–2002 – Pranty – 2-Jul-02 173Winter Scrub State Park, and Allan David Broussard Catfish Creek Preserve State Park), FloridaDivision of Wildlife (Lake Placid Wildlife and Environmental Area and Platt Branch Mitigation Parkand Wildlife and Environmental Area), Archbold Expeditions, Inc. (Archbold Biological Station;permission sought), The Nature Conservancy (Saddle Blanket Lakes Preserve, Tiger Creek Preserve,and several of the Lake Wales Ridge CARL–FF Project sites; permission sought), and private owners(remaining acreage of the Lake Wales Ridge CARL–FF Project)HABITATS: *pine flatwoods, *xeric oak scrub, *sand pine scrub, southern ridge sandhill, temperatehammock, fields, non-native pasture, cutthroat seeps, cypress swamp, bayhead, freshwater marsh,riverine, lacustrine, artificialLAND USE: *conservation, recreation, hunting (Lake Wales Ridge State Forest only), timber production(a few sites only)IBA CATEGORIES: significant populations of Threatened species; complete diversity of oak scrub andsand pine scrub species; significant diversity of wood-warblers; significant natural habitats; and longtermresearchAVIAN DATA: Although established primarily to prevent the extinction of several endemic plant species,the Lake Wales Ridge acquisition project is also essential for maintaining viable population of FloridaScrub-Jays in the interior central Peninsula; the Ridge supports the third-largest population remaining.Glen Woolfenden, John Fitzpatrick, and their colleagues have closely monitored a stable, colorbandedpopulation of about 100 Florida Scrub-Jays at Archbold since 1969, one of the longestrunningcontinuous bird studies in the world. A small, color-banded population of HairyWoodpeckers was studied at Archbold from 1988 to 1994. Pine flatwoods along the Ridge supportlarge numbers of Bachman’s Sparrows. Xeric oak scrub is rather depauperate in bird diversity, but thebird list for Archbold Biological Station nonetheless totals 212 native species, the results ofobservations of dozens of ornithologists for more than 30 years. Because most of the other CARL–FFparcels are privately owned or recently acquired, it is likely that the Archbold bird list represents theknown avifauna of the Lake Wales Ridge.Archbold Biological Station:SPECIES DATES NUMBERS COMMENTSFlorida Scrub-Jay 1992–1993 ~100 groups 3% (R)Wood-warbler diversity since 1941 30 speciesOverall diversity since 1941 212 natives9 exoticsLong-term research since 1969 Florida Scrub-Jay studyScrub-jay data from +Pranty (1996b); diversity data from +(Lohrer and Woolfenden 1992; revised online in 1998)All other sites combined:SPECIES DATES NUMBERS COMMENTSFlorida Scrub-Jay 1992–1993 ~265 groups 7% (R); approximate number of groups per site: Allan DavidBrossard Catfish Creek Preserve State Park (35),Avon Park Lakes (5), Carter Creek (35), FlamingoVillas (7), Henscratch Road–Jack Creek (20),Hesperides (5), Highlands Ridge (45), Holmes Avenue(10), Lake Apthorpe (25), Lake June West (10), LakePlacid Scrub (30), Lake Wales Ridge State Forest (13),Platt Branch (10), Saddle Blanket Lakes (2), SilverLake (10), and Sunray–Hickory Lake South (2)Data from +Pranty (1996b)