The Seven Samurai (meadowlarks) were all on the wires and down in the uncut field on N side of Hile School rd last night and this morning. We found their tracks as we were skiing and they seem to be going in and out of under- grass hummock tunnels— probably finding seeds from the never cut vegetation on that side. There is some striking individual variation in streaky-ness and extent of yellow on sides and bellies. Age I presume ?
So their behavior raises an interesting issue vis a vis overwintering bird survival and mowing. We were saying last fall that mowing should be delayed because of nesting/fledging. But late first mowings as well as second cuttings if attempted will take all standing veg out just as fall comes. There will be no standing crop of “weed” seeds or grass seed. And no cover within which to forage if you are a meadowlark or other ground forager. (Not saying that Meadowlarks should be here now!). How does this affect e.g. white throated sparrows? A flock of mostly white- throats and a few tree sparrows has been heavily working the edges of the fields around seed bearing plants in the same unmown areas. Mowing catches grassland specialists coming and going, so to speak. Anne Sent from my iPhone > On Jan 23, 2022, at 9:18 AM, Marie P. Read <m...@cornell.edu> wrote: > > > Two were there yesterday too. > M > > Get Outlook for iOS > From: bounce-126254613-5851...@list.cornell.edu > <bounce-126254613-5851...@list.cornell.edu> on behalf of bob mcguire > <bmcgu...@clarityconnect.com> > Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2022 8:49:25 AM > To: CAYUGABIRDS-L <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu> > Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Eastern Meadowlarks > > For anyone driving up the east side of the lake today, be sure to check the > south end of lake road - downhill from the winery. I had two, possible three, > EASTERN MEADOWLARKS fly over the car. Two of them landed alongside the road, > foraging in the roadside grass. They were not shy and continued to move > uphill as I watched for a few minutes, about twenty feet away. > > Bob McGuire > -- > > 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 > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to 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/ --
