I’m not sure if this idea of encouraging Bobolink to nest in the last field of a farmers mowing sequence would allow Bobolink to raise a brood before mowing, but if it did, Then the use of social attraction (decoys and audio recording) could offer promise of encouraging Bobolink to nest in safer fields. There is already evidence that Bobolink ‘colonies’ will form in response to social attraction. Steve
Sent from my iPhone > On Jun 21, 2021, at 12:00 AM, Upstate NY Birding digest > <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu> wrote: > > CAYUGABIRDS-L Digest for Monday, June 21, 2021. > > 1. Taughannock Peregrines > 2. Re: Fields being mowed. > 3. Re: Fields being mowed. > 4. Re: Fields being mowed. > 5. Re: Fields being mowed. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Subject: Taughannock Peregrines > From: Suan Hsi Yong <suan.y...@gmail.com> > Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2021 17:41:22 -0400 > X-Message-Number: 1 > > Two Thursdays ago (June 10) I happened to be up in T'burg, so stopped by to > check out the Taughannock Peregrines. I found three nestlings in their > eyrie playing with their food and flapping their wings as if ready to > fledge. Two days later, on Saturday June 12, I ran across Mark Chao and > Miyoku in T'burg, and together we went looking only to find the ledge > empty. After some waiting we saw one then several peregrines soaring around > the gorge, including the fledglings. Two of them eventually perched on a > snag on the same side of the gorge as we were, and through a window in the > foliage we were afforded some fantastic naked-eye views as they sat and > preened. Below are two videos I took, first of the nestlings on Thursday, > then of a fledgling on Saturday: > > https://youtu.be/YvQaS-PHFbo > https://youtu.be/8RAOCeBO49I > > Suan > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Subject: Re: Fields being mowed. > From: Suan Hsi Yong <suan.y...@gmail.com> > Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2021 18:04:59 -0400 > X-Message-Number: 2 > > Thanks, Dave. > > As Cayuga Bird Club I've been wondering what, if anything, we could do > about the situation. One dimension would be outreach and education and > increasing general awareness, for which CAC chair Jody has stepped up to > solicit volunteers, thanks! But I'd also toyed with a pipedream idea of > whether the club could establish a corps of volunteer surveyors who, upon > request by any interested farmer, would go to a field and try to map out > nest sites and mark off sub-sections of the field that the farmer may be > willing to leave alone for the sake of the birds. > > I've never tried finding nest sites of field birds before; I suspect it can > be hard. I'd be interested to hear of any work or techniques that can be > workable to "an average volunteer". Perhaps Reuben has some hints or > suggestions. I know that Reuben is a very acute observer of birds, and > would place his skills at above average; ideally, we would like to > establish some methodology that can be effectively applied by one of > "average" observational skills. > > Just spitballing, I imagine a workable technique would involve first > installing flags to establish a grid over the field, then having at least > two observers situated on orthogonal axes communicating with walkie-talkies > to triangulate the grid location of an observed bird flying into or out of > a likely nest. Flag installation should probably happen a day or two in > advance, and could conceivably be done by the farmer ahead of time. Flag > installation may also flush birds from potential nest sites, and notes on > such observations should be taken as well. The flags will need to be marked > such that they can be read from both axes, and be easy to interpolate. > Using letters and numbers is the obvious choice, but the markings would > have to be on stiff cards facing both axes. Another option is to use color > coded flags, but interpolation may be tricky, as one needs to be able to > quickly locate the grid "between the green and blue flags", say. Something > involving two digits of rainbow colors could be workable, but it gets > complicated fast with two axes to label. > > If anyone is interested in volunteering for such a survey, please email me. > I don't know if this idea will go anywhere, but having a sense of potential > interest could be a starting point. Also, if any farmers are willing to let > us test out techniques, email me as well. I suspect we won't be able to do > anything this season, but if the stars align (enough volunteers sign up and > a farmer offers a field to test) we could potentially try doing something > within the next week or two of peak nesting. More likely is to think about > possibly doing something next season, perhaps on one of Cornell's > agricultural fields that started this thread? > > Curious to hear people's thoughts. > > Suan > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Subject: Re: Fields being mowed. > From: Nancy Cusumano <nancycusuman...@gmail.com> > Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2021 18:38:19 -0400 > X-Message-Number: 3 > > I have been thinking about this too. And to me the issue is, what is in it > for the farmer? If we are going to ask them to cut their fields up to go > around nesting sites, is the bird conservation issue enough for them? What > is the carrot, I guess is my question. I don't know the answer. > Also, if fields are cut down around nesting birds, does that leave them > enough grassland to continue? Will they abandon? > > I think a trial at CU fields is a great idea if we can float it to them. > > Nancy > > >> On Sun, Jun 20, 2021 at 6:05 PM Suan Hsi Yong <suan.y...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Thanks, Dave. >> >> As Cayuga Bird Club I've been wondering what, if anything, we could do >> about the situation. One dimension would be outreach and education and >> increasing general awareness, for which CAC chair Jody has stepped up to >> solicit volunteers, thanks! But I'd also toyed with a pipedream idea of >> whether the club could establish a corps of volunteer surveyors who, upon >> request by any interested farmer, would go to a field and try to map out >> nest sites and mark off sub-sections of the field that the farmer may be >> willing to leave alone for the sake of the birds. >> >> I've never tried finding nest sites of field birds before; I suspect it >> can be hard. I'd be interested to hear of any work or techniques that can >> be workable to "an average volunteer". Perhaps Reuben has some hints or >> suggestions. I know that Reuben is a very acute observer of birds, and >> would place his skills at above average; ideally, we would like to >> establish some methodology that can be effectively applied by one of >> "average" observational skills. >> >> Just spitballing, I imagine a workable technique would involve first >> installing flags to establish a grid over the field, then having at least >> two observers situated on orthogonal axes communicating with walkie-talkies >> to triangulate the grid location of an observed bird flying into or out of >> a likely nest. Flag installation should probably happen a day or two in >> advance, and could conceivably be done by the farmer ahead of time. Flag >> installation may also flush birds from potential nest sites, and notes on >> such observations should be taken as well. The flags will need to be marked >> such that they can be read from both axes, and be easy to interpolate. >> Using letters and numbers is the obvious choice, but the markings would >> have to be on stiff cards facing both axes. Another option is to use color >> coded flags, but interpolation may be tricky, as one needs to be able to >> quickly locate the grid "between the green and blue flags", say. Something >> involving two digits of rainbow colors could be workable, but it gets >> complicated fast with two axes to label. >> >> If anyone is interested in volunteering for such a survey, please email >> me. I don't know if this idea will go anywhere, but having a sense of >> potential interest could be a starting point. Also, if any farmers are >> willing to let us test out techniques, email me as well. I suspect we won't >> be able to do anything this season, but if the stars align (enough >> volunteers sign up and a farmer offers a field to test) we could >> potentially try doing something within the next week or two of peak >> nesting. More likely is to think about possibly doing something next >> season, perhaps on one of Cornell's agricultural fields that started this >> thread? >> >> Curious to hear people's thoughts. >> >> Suan >> >> -- >> *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/>!* >> -- >> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Subject: Re: Fields being mowed. > From: Suan Hsi Yong <suan.y...@gmail.com> > Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2021 21:33:52 -0400 > X-Message-Number: 4 > > On Sun, Jun 20, 2021 at 6:38 PM Nancy Cusumano <nancycusuman...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> I have been thinking about this too. And to me the issue is, what is in it >> for the farmer? If we are going to ask them to cut their fields up to go >> around nesting sites, is the bird conservation issue enough for them? What >> is the carrot, I guess is my question. I don't know the answer. >> > > The carrot question is a challenging one, and not one I'm prepared to > address, but I think of it as an independent problem. > > I'm working on the assumption that some farmers, either via some form of > persuasion or just from their own love of nature, would be interested in > not killing nestlings. We've heard allusion to at least two such farmers in > recent posts. But as of today, these farmers do not have any workable > solution other than a loosy-goosy guideline of "wait til July to mow" > which, as others have explained, is often not compatible with their harvest > constraints. The volunteer surveyor's corps, if it can be successfully > materialized, would be an option for those farmers to try something > different. The idea would not be for the corps to go around trying to > convince farmers to do this or that, but to be available as a resource for > those who desire it. > > Suan > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Subject: Re: Fields being mowed. > From: Geo Kloppel <geoklop...@gmail.com> > Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2021 22:40:26 -0400 > X-Message-Number: 5 > > I’ve been musing along a different line, wondering if a preemptive approach > is possible. > > It takes time to mow the big fields that grassland nesters favor, and the hay > farmer can’t mow all of them simultaneously. The work of haying season has to > begin somewhere, and start early enough that the farmer can get through it > all. So each year some field will be selected to go first, and another > second, and the rest must wait their turns. > > Clearly some fields that are later in the queue can produce a crop of > fledglings before it’s their turn to be mowed; otherwise we wouldn’t be > having this conversation. So, suppose for the moment that the decision about > which fields to mow early could be made before nesting had even begun. If > there was then some way to discourage the birds from selecting those > particular fields to nest in, the effect would be to direct them to the > fields slated for later mowing... > > -Geo > > > --- > > END OF DIGEST > -- 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/ --
