. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. the great crested flycatcher, Fussell says. Similarly, the black-throated green warblers may have fallen victim to the growing population of brown-headed cowbirds and common grackles. The cowbird lays its eggs in the nests of smaller birds, forcing them to find new living quarters. A more welcome sight to bird en- thusiasts was the arrival of the white ibis, which started nesting along the coast in the 1960s. Only a rare summer visitor to North Carolina earlier in this century, it's now a common species al
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. the great crested flycatcher, Fussell says. Similarly, the black-throated green warblers may have fallen victim to the growing population of brown-headed cowbirds and common grackles. The cowbird lays its eggs in the nests of smaller birds, forcing them to find new living quarters. A more welcome sight to bird en- thusiasts was the arrival of the white ibis, which started nesting along the coast in the 1960s. Only a rare summer visitor to North Carolina earlier in this century, it's now a common species along most of the Carolina coast, even in the winter. Likewise, the osprey was rarely sighted nesting in barrier island treetops before the early 1970s. "You had to go to a big effort to see an osprey nest," Fussell says. "But to- day, they're on channel markers. They're all over the ; The osprey is making a comeback from DDT poisoning that left its eggs brittle and unviable. Other immigrants are riding the wings of "progress" around North Carolina's maritime for- ests. As the coast is developed, its woods are fragmented by roadways and clear- ings for sewer systems and power lines. These openings are road maps for non-native birds that fly in and some- times flush out the original populations. In general, the ubiquitous species have grown in number in the maritime forests; the Carolina wren and northern cardinal are the most common. Fussell's surveys of the Theodore Roosevelt Natural Area — in 1974,1977 and 1993 — show that common grackles have increased. But the species of the forest interior have declined. Black- throated green warblers, and perhaps other species, are now absent from the island as breeders. Once, 10 pairs nested in the area each breeding season. The red-shouldered hawk, present in the 1970s, is gone, Fussell says. This is true also for the red-eyed vireo, white- eyed vireo, great crested flycatcher, black-throated green
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