Conservation of Grassland Birds

Conservation of Grassland Birds: Taking Nature Under Our Wing
Claudia Winters, bird conservation program manager for Natural Lands, is on a mission to protect grassland birds such as the Bobolink. “Bobolinks are really charismatic birds,” she says with a smile. “During spring breeding, males sing a bubbling, rambling song while acrobatically diving and hovering over the meadows. They sound like R2D2 from Star Wars.”

These migratory songbirds travel about 12,500 miles round trip each year back and forth between their wintering grounds in South America and their breeding region in the northern U.S. They build their nests in open fields and meadows, tucked between clumps of grasses on the ground.

Bobolinks and other grassland nesting birds are declining faster than any other group of birds. Their population has plummeted by more than half since 1970 due to changes in both land development and farming practices. In the past, farmers mowed hay fields once or twice a summer, usually in late July. Modern agricultural technology and the demand for high-protein “green chop” for dairy cows have shifted mowing as early as May and is often repeated every 30 days.

“This essentially creates a trap where ground-nesting birds are drawn to a lush field as a nesting site in early spring only to have their nest—along with any chicks or baby birds—destroyed when the hay is cut,” says Claudia. “Even if they manage to lay another clutch of eggs, there isn’t enough time for them to hatch and the young to fledge before a second haying.”

By delaying mowing until July 15, Natural Lands ensures the meadows and agricultural fields on our preserves are safe havens for ground-nesting species. To help spread the word, Natural Lands is part of the Grassland Bird Collaboration, an effort spearheaded by Willistown Conservation Trust and the Cornell Land Bird Conservation Initiative. The Collaboration reaches out to Chester County property owners and the farmers who work these lands to provide guidance on best management practices to benefit these vulnerable birds. Because much of Chester County’s hay is purchased by local mushroom farmers for compost rather than to feed dairy cows, it doesn’t need to be high in protein and can be harvested late.

Protection of grasslands also benefits American Kestrels. Although kestrels do not nest on the ground, they do favor open areas with just a sprinkling of trees. Their population is in decline across the Northeast due to the cutting of trees with old woodpecker holes that they use for nesting, loss of grasslands where they hunt, and pesticides that kill the grassland insects that make up over 50% of their diet.

But there is hope. Natural Lands and other conservationists provide nesting boxes for kestrels in order to compensate for loss of woodpecker holes. Last summer, Claudia Winters was checking a kestrel nest box at Stroud Preserve in Chester County, PA. “I found an adult female in the box with her nestlings, and she had a band on her leg,” recounts Claudia. When she submitted the band number to the Bird Banding Laboratory at the U.S. Geological Survey, she learned the band had been put on by a Natural Lands staff member in Salem County, NJ, seven years earlier.

“The average lifespan of an American Kestrel is between two and five years, so it was fantastic to find one still successfully mating and rearing young at this age,” says Claudia. “I know it’s just one bird, but it gives me hope that Natural Lands is making a difference by saving land, stewarding it thoughtfully, and studying the wildlife that rely on it.”

Kit Werner, Senior Director of Communications, Natural Lands

Image Credits:

Bobolink, by CheepShot, licensed under CC BY 2.0

American Kestrel, by Linda Tanner, licensed under CC BY 2.0