New England-Acadian Forests (NA0410)

Blogs posted from this ecoregion:

• New England-Acadian Forests Ecoregion: the Birds and the Bees and Bon Anniversaire! (September 2016)

This very extensive ecoregion of northeastern North America extends in a small band along the south shore of the St. Lawrence in Québec from Matane southward to occupy all of southeastern Québec east of the St. Lawrence lowlands. Further to the east, still in Québec, a disjunct patch occurs around New Carlisle on the southern tip of the Gaspé Peninsula. South of that, the ecoregion surrounds the mouth of the Restigouche River in Québec and extends southward, except for highland areas, to cover most of western New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. In the United States, the ecoregion covers most of Maine and Vermont, western New Hampshire, north-central Massachusetts, a small area of northwest Connecticut, and a sliver of New York along the Massachusetts/Connecticut border.

Many other ecoregions are adjacent: i) Eastern Canadian Forests (NA0605) occurs to the northeast in Québec (and this is also the disjunct highland area in northern New Brunswick and in northern Cape Breton of Nova Scotia); ii) Gulf of St. Lawrence Lowland Forests (NA0408) occupies remaining areas of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia; iii) Eastern Great Lakes Lowland Forests (NA0407) forms the border to the west in Québec, Vermont, and New York (south to about East Hebron); iv) Northeastern Coastal Forests (NA0411) borders the remainder of the ecoregion in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, and Maine (and is the disjunct sliver along the Connecticut River on the border of Vermont and New Hampshire).

Description of the Ecoregion

A detailed description of the ecoregion can be found at WWF’s site (the map above is a screen shot from that Wildfinder site). There may also be additional information to be found in this ecoregion’s page at Wikipedia.

According to WWF, this ecoregion can be described as a transition zone between the boreal spruce-fir forest to the north and the deciduous forest to the south, with the Atlantic Ocean strongly influencing vegetation dynamics of the ecoregion, especially in coastal areas. Briefly, the ecoregion forms a mosaic of forest types and non-forest habitats, an area hilly to mountainous with the highest elevations occurring in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The mountains of this region contain a number of forest types; northern hardwoods/spruce forests predominate, and comprise roughly half of the forested landscape.

Further from WWF, along the Fundy Coast, high winds, cooler summers and strongly broken topography with many areas of shallow soil result in a greater occurrence of conifer-dominated forests. On a few of the highest mountain peaks, arctic species occur as disjunct populations. This is true of the White Mountains in New Hampshire, and Mount Washington in particular where a tundra-like alpine meadow occurs. Wide distribution of red spruce (Picea rubens) and red pine (Pinus resinosa) distinguish the ecoregion from the predominantly deciduous woodlands of the Great Lakes Lowland Forests and the mixed woods of the Eastern Forest/Boreal Transition area. Some combination of sugar maple (Acer saccharum), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), and yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) characterize most hardwood forests. The forests vary with elevation, with valleys containing hardwood forest with an admixture of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and low mountain slopes supporting a mixed forest of red spruce, balsam fir (Abies balsamea), maple, beech, birch, white spruce (P. glauca), and red pine. Eastern hemlock and eastern white pine (P. strobus) are also present. Conifers also dominate low elevation areas with shallow soils. The compensating effect of latitude is apparent in the altitudinal limits of zonation, which rise in elevation as one moves south.

Birds of the Ecoregion

WWF states that the mosaic of forest types and habitats support 225 bird species (243 according to my own calculations below), making these forests the second-richest ecoregion within the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests major habitat type, and among the 20 richest ecoregions in the continental United States and Canada.

The ecoregion has one species that is almost exclusive to the ecoregion, as a summer breeder, with only very small ranges in adjacent areas, but also very restricted within this ecoregion. Bicknell’s Thrush (Catharus bicknelli) is thus a near endemic but it must be noted that its habitat of stunted conifers near treeline is itself best considered a rare and outlier habitat for this ecoregion.

My list below of characteristic bird species includes 243 species. In general, the ecoregion does not seem to correspond particularly well with bird distributions, confirming its transitional nature between more coniferous ecoregions to the north and ecoregions more dominated by deciduous species to the south. Most species ranges show no particular relationship to the limits of the ecoregion with the exception of the following areas: the north-south ecoregion border in New York, the division in southeastern Québec between this ecoregion and the Eastern Great Lakes Lowland Forests, and the break in many bird distributions halfway up the coast of Maine. Many species are included in this ecoregion because they occur only in Massachusetts, suggesting that exclusion of that state and the small adjacent part of Connecticut would have sharpened the definition of the ecoregion from an avian point of view. Finally, many bird species within the ecoregion have a range that for the most part only includes the Maritimes (or which excludes them), suggesting that is a fairly distinct area as concerns bird distributions.

Resources for the Ecoregion Birder

Other than the usual field guides and state bird books, no ecoregion-specific resources have come to my attention.

List of Characteristic Bird Species of the Ecoregion

The following list does not include very rare or accidental species (it excludes anything other than Category 1 or 2 on the ABA checklist). Species are classed as summer breeders (s), residents (r), migrants (m), wintering (w), or peripheral (x) (that is, occurring in the ecoregion but only on its periphery and more characteristic of an adjacent ecoregion). For a fuller definition of characteristic species of an ecoregion, see the About tab.

Because of my particular interest in that area, I also break out in the list below the species that occur in the province of Québec, at the northernmost part of the ecoregion (called here “wQC”, excluding the areas in Québec on the Gaspé Peninsula).

• Snow Goose m [wQC m]
• Brant m [wQC m]
• Canada Goose s [wQC s]
• Wood Duck s [wQC s]
• Gadwall m [wQC m]
• American Wigeon m [wQC s]
• American Black Duck r [wQC r]
• Mallard s [wQC s]
• Blue-winged Teal s [wQC s]
• Northern Shoveler m [wQC s]
• Northern Pintail s [wQC s]
• Green-winged Teal s [wQC s]
• Canvasback m [wQC m]
• Redhead x
• Ring-necked Duck s [wQC s]
• Greater Scaup w [wQC m]
• Lesser Scaup m [wQC m]
• King Eider w
• Common Eider r [wQC r]
• Harlequin Duck w
• Surf Scoter w [wQC m]
• White-winged Scoter w [wQC m]
• Black Scoter w [wQC m]
• Long-tailed Duck w [wQC m]
• Bufflehead w [wQC m]
• Common Goldeneye w [wQC r]
• Barrow’s Goldeneye w [wQC w]
• Hooded Merganser s [wQC s]
• Common Merganser r [wQC r]
• Red-breasted Merganser s [wQC s]
• Ruddy Duck m
• Ring-necked Pheasant r
• Ruffed Grouse r [wQC r]
• Spruce Grouse r [wQC r]
• Wild Turkey r [wQC r]
• Red-throated Loon w
• Common Loon s [wQC s]
• Pied-billed Grebe s [wQC s]
• Horned Grebe m [wQC m]
• Red-necked Grebe w [wQC x]
• Northern Gannet x [wQC x]
• Double-crested Cormorant s [wQC m]
• Great Cormorant w
• American Bittern s [wQC s]
• Least Bittern x [wQC x]
• Great Blue Heron s [wQC s]
• Great Egret m [wQC x]
• Green Heron s [wQC x]
• Black-crowned Night-Heron s [wQC m]
• Turkey Vulture s [wQC s]
• Osprey s [wQC s]
• Bald Eagle r [wQC r]
• Northern Harrier s [wQC s]
• Sharp-shinned Hawk r [wQC s]
• Cooper’s Hawk r [wQC s]
• Northern Goshawk r [wQC r]
• Red-shouldered Hawk s [wQC x]
• Broad-winged Hawk s [wQC s]
• Red-tailed Hawk r [wQC s]
• Rough-legged Hawk w [wQC m]
• Golden Eagle m [wQC m]
• Virginia Rail s [wQC s]
• Sora s [wQC s]
• Common Gallinule x
• American Coot x
• American Oystercatcher x
• Black-bellied Plover m [wQC m]
• American Golden-Plover m [wQC m]
• Semipalmated Plover m [wQC m]
• Piping Plover s
• Killdeer s [wQC s]
• Spotted Sandpiper s [wQC s]
• Solitary Sandpiper m [wQC m]
• Greater Yellowlegs m [wQC m]
• Willet s
• Lesser Yellowlegs m [wQC m]
• Upland Sandpiper s [wQC s]
• Whimbrel m [wQC x]
• Ruddy Turnstone m [wQC m]
• Red Knot m [wQC m]
• Stilt Sandpiper x
• Sanderling m [wQC m]
• Dunlin m [wQC m]
• Purple Sandpiper w
• Least Sandpiper m [wQC m]
• White-rumped Sandpiper m [wQC m]
• Pectoral Sandpiper m [wQC m]
• Semipalmated Sandpiper m [wQC m]
• Short-billed Dowitcher m [wQC m]
• Wilson’s Snipe s [wQC s]
• American Woodcock s [wQC m]
• Common Murre s [wQC x]
• Razorbill r
• Black Guillemot r [wQC x]
• Atlantic Puffin s
• Black-legged Kittiwake x [wQC x]
• Bonaparte’s Gull m [wQC m]
• Ring-billed Gull w [wQC s]
• Herring Gull r [wQC r]
• Iceland Gull w [wQC w]
• Glaucous Gull w [wQC w]
• Great Black-backed Gull r [wQC r]
• Black Tern m [wQC x]
• Roseate Tern s
• Common Tern s [wQC s]
• Arctic Tern s
• Rock Pigeon r [wQC r]
• Mourning Dove r [wQC s]
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo s
• Black-billed Cuckoo s [wQC s]
• Eastern Screech-Owl r
• Great Horned Owl r [wQC r]
• Snowy Owl w [wQC w]
• Northern Hawk Owl x [wQC w]
• Barred Owl r [wQC r]
• Long-eared Owl s [wQC s]
• Short-eared Owl m [wQC s]
• Northern Saw-whet Owl r [wQC r]
• Common Nighthawk s [wQC s]
• Eastern Whip-poor-will s [wQC s]
• Chimney Swift s [wQC s]
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird s [wQC s]
• Belted Kingfisher s [wQC s]
• Red-bellied Woodpecker r
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker s [w s]
• Downy Woodpecker r [wQC r]
• Hairy Woodpecker r [wQC r]
• American Three-toed Woodpecker x [wQC r]
• Black-backed Woodpecker r [wQC r]
• Northern Flicker s [wQC s]
• Pileated Woodpecker r [wQC r]
• American Kestrel s [wQC s]
• Merlin s [wQC s]
• Peregrine Falcon m [wQC m]
• Olive-sided Flycatcher s [wQC s]
• Eastern Wood-Pewee s [wQC s]
• Yellow-bellied Flycatcher s [wQC s]
• Acadian Flycatcher s
• Alder Flycatcher s [wQC s]
• Willow Flycatcher s
• Least Flycatcher s [wQC s]
• Eastern Phoebe s [wQC s]
• Great Crested Flycatcher s [wQC s]
• Eastern Kingbird s [wQC s]
• Northern Shrike w [wQC w]
• White-eyed Vireo x
• Yellow-throated Vireo s
• Blue-headed Vireo s [wQC s]
• Warbling Vireo s [wQC s]
• Philadelphia Vireo s [wQC s]
• Red-eyed Vireo s [wQC s]
• Gray Jay r [wQC r]
• Blue Jay r [wQC r]
• American Crow r [wQC r]
• Fish Crow x
• Common Raven r [wQC r]
• Horned Lark r [wQC s]
• Purple Martin s
• Tree Swallow s [wQC s]
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow s [wQC s]
• Bank Swallow s [wQC s]
• Cliff Swallow s [wQC s]
• Barn Swallow s [wQC s]
• Black-capped Chickadee r [wQC r]
• Boreal Chickadee r [wQC r]
• Tufted Titmouse r
• Red-breasted Nuthatch r [wQC r]
• White-breasted Nuthatch r [wQC r]
• Brown Creeper r [wQC r]
• House Wren s [wQC x]
• Winter Wren s [wQC s]
• Marsh Wren s
• Carolina Wren r
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher s
• Golden-crowned Kinglet r [wQC r]
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet s [wQC s]
• Eastern Bluebird s [wQC s]
• Veery s [wQC s]
• Gray-cheeked Thrush m [wQC m]
• Bicknell’s Thrush s [wQC m]
• Swainson’s Thrush s [wQC s]
• Hermit Thrush s [wQC s]
• Wood Thrush s [wQC s]
• American Robin r [wQC s]
• Gray Catbird s [wQC s]
• Brown Thrasher s [wQC s]
• Northern Mockingbird r
• European Starling r [wQC r]
• American Pipit m [wQC m]
• Bohemian Waxwing w [wQC w]
• Cedar Waxwing r [wQC s]
• Lapland Longspur m [wQC m]
• Snow Bunting w [wQC w]
• Ovenbird s [wQC s]
• Worm-eating Warbler x
• Louisiana Waterthrush s
• Northern Waterthrush s [wQC s]
• Blue-winged Warbler s
• Black-and-white Warbler s [wQC s]
• Tennessee Warbler s [wQC s]
• Nashville Warbler s [wQC s]
• Connecticut Warbler x
• Mourning Warbler s [wQC s]
• Common Yellowthroat s [wQC s]
• American Redstart s [wQC s]
• Cape May Warbler s [wQC s]
• Cerulean Warbler x
• Northern Parula s [wQC s]
• Magnolia Warbler s [wQC s]
• Bay-breasted Warbler s [wQC s]
• Blackburnian Warbler s [wQC s]
• Yellow Warbler s [wQC s]
• Chestnut-sided Warbler s [wQC s]
• Blackpoll Warbler s [wQC s]
• Black-throated Blue Warbler s [wQC s]
• Palm Warbler s [wQC s]
• Pine Warbler s [wQC x]
• Yellow-rumped Warbler s [wQC s]
• Prairie Warbler s
• Black-throated Green Warbler s [wQC s]
• Canada Warbler s [wQC s]
• Wilson’s Warbler s [wQC s]
• Eastern Towhee s
• American Tree Sparrow w [wQC w]
• Chipping Sparrow s [wQC s]
• Field Sparrow s
• Vesper Sparrow s [wQC x]
• Savannah Sparrow s [wQC s]
• Grasshopper Sparrow s
• Nelson’s Sparrow s [wQC s]
• Fox Sparrow m [wQC m]
• Song Sparrow s [wQC s]
• Lincoln’s Sparrow s [wQC s]
• Swamp Sparrow s [wQC s]
• White-throated Sparrow s [wQC s]
• White-crowned Sparrow m [wQC m]
• Dark-eyed Junco r [wQC s]
• Scarlet Tanager s [wQC s]
• Northern Cardinal r
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak s [wQC s]
• Indigo Bunting s [wQC x]
• Bobolink s [wQC s]
• Red-winged Blackbird s [wQC s]
• Eastern Meadowlark s [wQC s]
• Rusty Blackbird s [wQC s]
• Common Grackle s [wQC s]
• Brown-headed Cowbird s [wQC s]
• Orchard Oriole x
• Baltimore Oriole s [wQC s]
• Pine Grosbeak w [wQC r]
• House Finch r [wQC r]
• Purple Finch r [wQC r]
• Red Crossbill r [wQC r]
• White-winged Crossbill r [wQC r]
• Common Redpoll w [wQC w]
• Hoary Redpoll x [wQC w]
• Pine Siskin r [wQC r]
• American Goldfinch r [wQC r]
• Evening Grosbeak r [wQC r]
• House Sparrow r [wQC r]

Resident breeders (r) 54 [wQC 40]

Summer breeders (s) 128 [wQC 111]

Migrants (m) 36 [wQC 40]

Wintering (w) 25 [wQC 11]

Peripheral (x) [not in Total] 17 [wQC 15]

TOTAL 243 [wQC 202]

 

DJG: 119 spp. [wQC 60] (March 31, 2017)