I think there needs to be a distinction made between mowing for agricultural purposes, such as making hay, and mowing non-agricultural fields and roadsides. For farmers making hay, early mowing is important for the nutritional value of the hay. It is unreasonable to expect farmers to make poor quality hay for their livestock in exchange for protecting grassland birds. Perhaps some will, but it is unfair to expect them to.
I think we should include farmers in educating landowners about the importance of waiting to mow grasslands until after the majority of grassland birds have fledged their young, but we should focus on the landowners and the municipal bodies who mow to make it look nice or to keep a field from being overtaken with woody plants. Those areas can be mowed in late July or August with no negative consequences for the landowners and municipal entities. Marty Interlaken, NY From: bounce-125714205-3494...@list.cornell.edu <bounce-125714205-3494...@list.cornell.edu> On Behalf Of Kenneth V. Rosenberg Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2021 4:07 PM To: Linda Orkin <wingmagi...@gmail.com>; CAYUGABIRDS-L <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu> Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Fields being mowed. Linda, thanks for bringing this mowing to everyone's attention. In a nutshell, what is happening today in those fields, repeated over the entire U.S., is the primary cause of continued steep declines in Bobolink and other grassland bird populations. Last year, because of the delays in mowing due to Covid, the fields along Freeze and Hanshaw Roads were full of nesting birds, including many nesting Bobolinks that were actively feeding young in the nests at the end of June. In the first week of July, Cornell decided to mow all the fields. Jody Enck and I wrote letters and met with several folks at Cornell in the various departments in charge of managing those fields (Veterinary College, University Farm Services) - although they listened politely to our concerns for the birds, they went ahead and mowed that week as dozens of female bobolinks and other birds hovered helplessly over the tractors with bills filled food for their almost-fledged young. The same just happened over the past couple of days this year, only at an earlier stage in the nesting cycle - most birds probably have (had) recently hatched young in the nest. While mowing is occurring across the entire region as part of "normal" agricultural practices (with continued devastating consequences for field-nesting birds), the question is whether Cornell University needs to be contributing to this demise, while ostensibly supporting biodiversity conservation through other unrelated programs. Jody and I presented an alternative vision, where the considerable acres of fields owned by the university across Tompkins County could serve as a model for conserving populations of grassland birds, pollinators, and other biodiversity, but the people in charge of this management were not very interested in these options. And there we have it, a microcosm of the continental demise of grassland birds playing out in our own backyard, illustrating the extreme challenges of modern Ag practices that are totally incompatible with healthy bird populations. I urge CayugaBirders to make as much noise as possible, and maybe someone will listen. KEN Ken Rosenberg (he/him/his) Applied Conservation Scientist Cornell Lab of Ornithology American Bird Conservancy Fellow, Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future k...@cornell.edu<mailto:k...@cornell.edu> Wk: 607-254-2412 Cell: 607-342-4594 From: bounce-125714085-3493...@list.cornell.edu<mailto:bounce-125714085-3493...@list.cornell.edu> <bounce-125714085-3493...@list.cornell.edu<mailto:bounce-125714085-3493...@list.cornell.edu>> on behalf of Linda Orkin <wingmagi...@gmail.com<mailto:wingmagi...@gmail.com>> Date: Tuesday, June 15, 2021 at 3:02 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu<mailto:cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu>> Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Fields being mowed. After a couple year hiatus in which the Freese Road fields across from the gardens have been mowed late in the season allowing at least Bobolinks to be done with their nesting and for grassland birds to be lured into a false feeling of security so they have returned and I've counted three singing meadowlarks for the first time in years, Cornell has returned to early mowing there as of today. And so the mayhem ensues. How many more multitudes of birds will die before we believe our own eyes and ears. Mow the grass while it's still nutritious but are we paying attention to who is being fed. Grass taken from the land to pass through animals and in that inefficient process turning to food for humans. Linda Orkin Ithaca NY -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
