Maple Swamp was once the biggest and most beautiful piece of natural landscape left in Eastern LI. Well, it's still as big as ever but it has lost some of its beauty due to the depredations of a tiny inchworm or looper that decimated whole areas of oaks. Now the long-term effects of ecological change begin to be noticed. Many of the dead trees have dropped their branches or simply toppled over, often obstructing the trails. Since the canopy is now open in many places, dense undergrowth has come up making some of the wilder areas difficult to bushwhack through. Because there is a considerable amount of water in all the ponds and other wet spots (not connected directly to the looper but perhaps also an effect of climate change), there are mosquitos. Ticks are still a problem, particularly if you leave the wide trails or woods roads.

All this said, this is still a great place to bird, particularly in the month of May. As of today (May 4), all the dogwoods are in full bloom and the Mountain Laurel looks to be not far behind. Some of the classic pine barrens species are also in bloom include the two or three species of blueberries and the pretty chokeberry. There were termite hatches on fallen wood everywhere. 

Most of the nesting species were in place including Eastern Kingbird, Great Crested Flycatcher, White-breasted Nuthatch, Wood Thrush, Blue-winged Warbler, Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat and others. The relatively few migrants included a small group of Bay-breasted Warbler (always a good find) and a surprisingly early Blackpoll. Other migrants included Yellow-rumped Warbler, Yellow Warbler and N. Parula. A nice find was a male and female Wood Duck on a small pond just back of the Graphics of Peconic buildings (now used for art storage I believe) not far from Pleasure Drive.

I will be doing a walk in Maple Swamp on Sunday, May 9th, for ELIAS (Eastern LI Audubon Society) and I promise to keep to the wide roads and trails. 

Eric Salzman