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While jogging around Hempstead Lake State Park in Rockville Center this past weekend, I saw a Bald Eagle perched on a dead tree in the Northernmost portion of the lake. Not believing my own eyes I returned a half hour later, but no bird. However, im not the first, it was apparently reported to the Audubon Society in April 2012. I would have never have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes.  Go figure!

 

http://citybirder.blogspot.com/2012/04/new-york-city-rare-bird-alert_14.html

 

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After much consideration, the Wetland Wiki will be closing after 5+ years.  It was initially envisioned to fill the gap between the general knowledge found on Wikipedia and a scientific textbook, but while there had been many interested users, the edits and constant updating of the wiki, particularly keeping track of changes in Federal and State laws became too much for a limited amount of editors.  However, over the past year, Wikipedia seemed to make many updates to its wetland related pages, so it is becoming a much more reliable resource, despite gaps.  The Wiki was released under a Creative Commons license and the database will remain available to anyone who is intersected in picking up this project.

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Two new Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance, were designated in the United States this week!

Excerpted from the Ramsar Release:
Congaree National Park in South Carolina is a mosaic of freshwater swamp forests, seasonal sloughs, forested peatlands, permanent and seasonal creeks, permanent freshwater lakes, and shrub-dominated wetlands, containing the largest remaining example of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in North America.

The site is an important over-wintering area for large numbers of temperate migrants and year-round residents. One winter census documented over 2,000 birds per 101ha, one of the highest wintering bird densities reported in the United States. It supports 56 species of fish, or almost 40% of the freshwater fish species known to exist in South Carolina.

The second new site, The Emiquon Complex is a combination of comprises three existing protected areas, the Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, the Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge, and Emiquon Preserve that are owned US Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy. The complex lies within the former natural floodplain of the Illinois River, and as in other large-floodplain river systems, the dynamic relationship between the river and its floodplain creates a diversity of habitats including bottomland lakes, side channels, sloughs, marsh, bottomland hardwood forests, and wet, mesic and dry prairies.

 

 

Congaree Swamp

Wetlands in the News

05 May 2024