Ecology of Red Maple Swamps in the Glaciated Northeast: A ...

EXusbtand arid Eddleman (1Y30) quantified herpebfaur~al
use of upland forests inmediately surrounding
four red maple swmlps in &ode Eslmd.
As &Grad and Rudis (1990) found in New Elampshire,
wood frogs, Anlerican toads, and redback
salmanders were the most nunlerous species
captured; they constituted about 810h of the total
captures (Table 7.2). The highest monthly captures
occurred in July wid August and consisted
primarily of juvenile American toads and green
frogs (Rana clnmitans) leaving the forested
swamps.
While data are scarce, the above studies demonstrate
that red maple swamps comt.itut;e significant
habitat for amphibinns in widely differing
forest regions of the glaciated Northeast,. The specific
uses (e.g., breeding and feeding) that the various
species of anlphibians and reptiles make of
these swamps and the relative importance of different
swampmicrohnbitufs to individual species need
additional study.
Birds
Species Cornpsi t ion
Of all the vertebrate classes inhabiting northeasknl
red maple swamps, birds are the best
documented. Avian species conlposition and density
have been determined through standard
Breeding Bird Censuses conducted in New Jersey
(Black and Seeley 1953; Seeley 1954, 1955, 1956,
1957, 1%; Meyers et a1. 1981; Taylor 1984) and
western New York (Slack et al. 1975). Anderson
and Maxfield (1962) listed birds that were mistnetted
during the breeding season in a mixed red
maple-Atlantic white cedar swamp in Massachusetts.
Two more recent studies have focused specifically
on factors determining the composition
and structure of the breeding bird comunitiss of
red maple swamps in Massachusetts (Swift 1980;
Swift et al. 1984) and Rhode Island (Memow 1990).
Table 7.3 lish the bird spies breeding in northeastern
red maple swanlps, according to published
Table 7.3. Helutiue abundance of breeding birds in red rncrple swamps of theglaciated Northeast. Values
are the percentages of all individuals censused in each study.
Species
N.Y. X.J. N.J. N.J. Mass. Mass. R.I. Mean
v-ry
Common yellowthroat
Ovenbird
Black-capped chickadee
Wood thrush
Gray catbird
American robin
Blue jay
American redstart
Canada warbler
Red-eyed vireo
Northern waterthrush
Rufous-sided towhee
Black-and-white warbler
Blue-winged warbler
Tufted titmouse
Northern oriole
Great crested flycatcher
House wren
Downy woodpecker
Scarlet tanager
Northern cardinal
Eastern wood-pewee
Gomon grackle
Rose-breasted grosbeak
White-eyed vireo