lying mineral sediments. All these effects are gradational 

 and most pronounced in the pocosin center, where nutrients 

 are most limited and vegetation lowest. 



Human-caused disturbance is not absent from the natural 

 area, although its history and effects are difficult to dis- 

 cover and interpret. Certainly logging has gone on through- 

 out Northwest Pocosin for 150 years or more, but it is unknown 

 if shifts in community composition have resulted from selective 

 removal of certain tree species. Interestingly, virtually no 

 Atlantic white cedar ( Chamaecyparis thyoiries ^ has been noted 

 in the Northwest Pocosin; nor is bald cypress (Taxodium dis - 

 tichum) an iitroortant modern-day component. 



WILDLIFE AND AVIAN DIVERSITY 



The avifauna of Northwest Pocosin is highly responsive 

 to the structure of the vegetation, with extremes of breeding 

 bird diversity ranging from three species in the evergreen 

 shrub pocosin (CT 1) to nineteen in the old-growth pond pine 

 stand (CT 2). The latter site, with its tall open canopy 

 and numerous standing dead snags, is rich in feeding and 

 nesting niches lacking in the short pocosin. The pond pine 

 stand supported two unusual breeding species in the spring 

 and summer of 1982. A singing male house wren present on 

 May 14 was probably a breeding bird. The species is very 

 rare in the North Carolina Coastal Plain during the nesting 

 season. Unusual for the habitat were several orchard orioles, 

 present at the old growth stand on May 14 and noted again on 

 June 28. 



Other notable birds present include Swainson's warbler, 

 present in a medium-height stand of pond pine, red maple and 

 loblolly bay, a somewhat unusual habitat for the species. 

 Black-throated green warblers are probably present as breeders 

 in the taller and denser pond pine forest stands where the 

 canopy is comprised of an even mix of pine, bay species and 

 red maple. The species occurs in the limited swamp forest 

 stands on the western edge of the natural area (not described 

 in this report) . Worm-eating warblers are probable breeders 

 in dense , moderately tall shrubs and low trees around the edges 

 of the natural area; singing males were observed in similar and 

 immediately adjacent habitats on the North Minnesott Ridge site 

 to the east. All three warblers are considered local to uncom- 

 mon breeding birds of North Carolina's Coastal Plain. 



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