ORIGINAL BIOTA OF THE AMERICAS 



67 



hill crane, king rail, Virginia rail, sora, 

 yellow rail, black rail, purple gallinule 

 (south), Florida gallinule, coot, wood- 

 cock, Wilson's snipe, solitarj^ sandpiper, 

 spotted sandpiper, piping plover, duck 

 hawk, osprey northern raven, red- 

 winged blackbird, and long-billed marsh 

 wren. 



7. oak grove savanna biota (park 

 steppe of hardy in part; grassland- 

 deciduous forest transition, 

 shreve; subclimax prairie, Cle- 

 ments) 



An area with little rainfall in winter 

 and late summer and heavy rainfall 

 in June. 



The rather ill-defined belt in which 

 the Deciduous Forest emerges from the 

 flood-plains and river margins and 

 occupies a portion of the upland. On 

 the western edge of the belt there is a 

 high percentage of grassland, while in 

 the eastern portion the deciduous forest 

 becomes nearly continuous. The prin- 

 cipal trees of this region are the bur, 

 white, and black oaks (Quercus macro- 

 carpa, Q. alba, Q. velutina) ; the principal 

 grasses, beard grass iAndroipogen fur- 

 catus), Indian grass {Sorghastrum 

 nutans), and dropseed {Sporobolus cryp- 

 tandrus). 



The forest edge is a very important 

 habitat for a few mammals, birds and 

 many insects ranging eastward. The 

 Franklin ground-squirrel {Citellus frank- 

 linii), and maiiy birds and insects are 

 restricted to it. Steppe animals in- 

 vaded the grass covered areas while 

 the wooded parts supported the Vir- 

 ginia deer [Odocoileus virginanus mac- 

 rourus), elk {Cervus c. canadensis), 

 raccoon {Procyon I. lolor), gray squirrel 

 {Sciurus carolinensis leucolis), and cot- 

 tontail rabbit {Sylvilagus floridanus 

 mearnsii). 



The species that occur in the decidu- 

 ous forest are, for the most part, also 

 found in the oak grove savannas. But 

 a few species that are confined to the 

 southeastern part and the northeastern 

 part of the deciduous forest do not find 

 their way into the oak grove savannas. 

 The oak grove savanna thus become a 

 westward extension of the deciduou° 



forest like arms into the grasslands. 

 Breeding birds that occur in the oak 

 grove savannas are as follows: upland 

 plover, turkey vulture, black vulture, 

 swallow-tailed kite, Mississippi kite, 

 sharp-shinned hawk. Cooper's liawk, 

 red-tailed hawk, red-shouldered hawk, 

 broad-winged hawk, bald eagle, duck 

 hawk, sparrow hawk, great horned owl, 

 barn owl, long-eared owl, barred owl, 

 saw-whet owl, screech owl, Carolina 

 paroquet (formerly), yellow-l)illcd 

 cuckoo, black-billed cuckoo, hairy 

 woodpecker, downy woodpecker, yellow- 

 bellied sapsucker, red-headed wood- 

 pecker, red-bellied woodpecker, north- 

 ern flicker, whip-poor-will, nighthawk, 

 chimney swift, ruby-throated hum- 

 mingbird, kingbird, Arkansas kingbird 

 (west), crested flycatcher, wood pewce, 

 yellow-bellied flycatcher (north), Aca- 

 dian flj^catcher, least flycatcher, blue 

 jay, raven, crow, cowbird, orchard 

 oriole, Baltimore oriole, bronzed grackle, 

 goldfinch, vesper sparrow, chipping 

 sparrow, field sparrow, song sparrow, 

 towhee, cardinal, rose-breasted gros- 

 beak, painted bunting (south), scar- 

 let tanager, summer tanager, purple 

 martin, cliff swallow, barn swallow, 

 cedar waxwing, loggerhead shrike 

 (south), white-rumped shrike, red-eyed 

 vireo, warbling vireo, yellow-throated 

 vireo, black and white warbler (oc- 

 casionally), worm-eating warbler, blue- 

 winged warbler (occasionally), cerulean 

 warbler, chestnut-sided warbler (oc- 

 casionally), prairie warbler, oven-bird, 

 yellow-breasted chat, redstart (north), 

 mockingbird, catbird, brown thrasher, 

 Carolina wren, Bewick's wren, brown 

 creeper, white-breasted nuthatch, tufted 

 titmouse, chickadee, blue-gray guat- 

 catcher, woodthrush, veery (east), willow 

 thrush, robin, and bluebird. 



Breeding birds whose habitat is 

 generally limited to the pre-forest or 

 other early stages of succession include 

 the following: prairie chicken, bob- 

 white, short-eared owl, prairie horned 

 lark, bobolink, meadowlark, grasshopper 

 sparrow, lienslow's sparrow, lark spar- 

 row, dickcissel, and indigo bunting. 



