The “North Pool Restoration Study” website of the Parker River N.W.R. states:
1. “There have not been records of the king rail or the common moorhen on the Refuge in over a decade.”
A simple search of the “Bird Observer” database reveals what Massachusetts birders already know: that there are plenty of records of both of these species from the refuge over the last decade. Not only are there sixteen published records of King Rail and eighteen published records of Common Moorhen since 1994, but moorhens, a state-listed species of “Special Concern” successfully bred on the refuge at Stage Island Pool in both 1994 and 1996, producing four and six young, respectively. The management and the staff biologists at the Parker River N.W.R. are completely unaware of these facts and of the status of these and other rare species on the refuge, yet they are entrusted to make sound management decisions. If they are this ignorant of the basic avian biology of the refuge and of these impoundments how much in error might they be in other aspects of refuge management, and in other of their stated "facts", and how can they be held to be competent to make important management decisions critical to endangered species and their habitats and overall biodiversity on the refuge?
The following statements are also made on the refuge website:
2. “Historically, bird use in the North Pool impoundment has been low compared to the Bill Forward and Stage Island Pools.”
Quite the contrary. In regard to the historical usage, the North Pool has a rich history of usage by marsh and other birds. Common Moorhen bred at the North Pool with regularity until at least 1984, Least Bittern until at least 1987. American Bitterns has also been regular during the breeding season and migration. Sora and Virginia Rails have also been consistently noted at the pool, often confirmed breeding, throughout much of it’s history. King Rail was sporadically reported in the 1970’s and possibly into the early 1980’s. Also, the North Pool has in fact become a very productive duck factory, particularly for Gadwall and Mallard (see below). During migration flocks of hundreds of waterfowl may be present, including wigeon, Black Ducks, Mallards, N. Pintail, and Green-winged Teal. It would likewise be a stretch to characterize autumn evening roosts of up to 1000 Great and Snowy Egrets, 300,000+ Tree Swallows, and 50,000+ blackbirds observed at the North Pool marsh as historically low bird use. I can and will provide documentation and references for all of the above claims.
3. “The only [marsh bird] species observed in the North Pool was the American bittern. Until this year, none of the other State listed marsh and wading birds were observed in the North Pool as far back as the refuges records show.”
Well, that’s the key here, according to the “refuges records” which involved very limited surveys. In actuality, there have been many sightings of Pied-billed Grebe from the North Pool channel in the past ten years. Northern Harrier bred in the North Pool in 2002 and 2003, the first in Essex County in decades. There are many records for Virginia Rail and Sora (neither are state-listed though Sora has been proposed by the state Non-game Advisory Board) as well.
Nearly all of the replete records from the Bird Observer database do not refer to specific locations but are just listed as “Plum I.” For instance, there are 32 published records for Least Bittern (involving up to 46 individuals) from Plum Island, since 1994. I have attempted to contact just some of the observers to determine how many of these originate from the North Pool. In a very preliminary review, based on responses from just a handful of observers, thus far I’ve determined that the following records, at least, are from the North Pool. It is likely that there are more:
Least Bittern:
Common Moorhen:
***I would appreciate hearing privately from anyone who has recorded any of these marsh birds from the North Pool in the past ten years, including number, date, observer(s).
Additionally, the refuge website states:
4. “The original purpose of the impoundments was to create breeding habitat for the American black duck and other waterfowl. However, despite years of intensive management, waterfowl breeding did not increase significantly at the North Pool.”
I annually see as many or more broods of ducks, particularly of Gadwall and Mallard, at the North Pool as at the other refuge impoundments. This past Friday (2 July 2004) at the North Pool there were three broods of Gadwall including females with 8, 9, and 10 young, and a female Mallard with ten young. In addition, up to six loafing male Blue-winged Teals in the Hellcat area support the supposition that this species may also be breeding this year, as they have done here historically.
Rick Heil
S.Peabody, MA
rsheil(AT)juno.com
Save the North Pool web site: http://bartonstreet.com/npool/.