Hi Madonna, Thanks for asking this question because I think a lot of folks who want to help conserve steeply declining grassland birds would be interested in an answer. I do not know what the presenter was referring to specifically, but I would guess that it might have to do with how big or how small of a field grassland nesting birds need to nest.
Eighteen acres, converted to a square comes out to be about 885 feet by 885 feet (almost a football field long by a football field wide). Having conducted grassland breeding bird surveys for work since 2018, I can say with some authority that a field of that size would definitely be used by grassland nesting birds like Bobolinks, Eastern Meadowlarks, and even Upland Sandpipers. If you do a search of available literature online, one rule of thumb that pops up again and again is that grassland nesting birds most frequently nest in fields larger than about 10ac in size. Perhaps even more important than total size is field shape. Bobolinks and Meadowlarks typically like to nest more than 50 yards from a hedgerow or woods. So a 10ac fieldthat is real long and narrow may not have any nesting grassland birds using it, while a square field of 10ac might have several pairs nesting there. I would encourage you to ask the instructor (if you can) for a specific answer about the 18ac field. I would be curious to know the response.d Thanks for starting the discussion. Jody Jody W. Enck, PhD Conservation Social Scientist, and Founder of the Sister Bird Club Network 607-379-5940 On Sat, Apr 12, 2025 at 12:55 PM madonna stallmann < madonnaoftheprai...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hello Bird Brains! 😁 > > I recently finished a class about meadow restoration. The instructor made > a statement about ground nesting birds that I had not heard before. It goes > like this: "If you don't have acreage of 18 or more acres, you don't need > to be concerned about disturbing ground nesting birds while conducting > restoration activities (ie. mowing)." I was unable to ask for a study > reference before the class ended. Is there anyone out there who can verify > the instructor's statement? OR Do you know where I might find information > that will verify the amount of undisturbed meadow acreage that ground > nesting birds require to establish a nesting site? > > 💐 🐦Madonna Stallmann > -- > *Cayugabirds-L List Info:* > Welcome and Basics > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME.htm> > Rules and Information > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES.htm> > 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> > ABA <https://www.aba.org/birding-news/> > *Please submit your observations to eBird > <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>!* > -- > -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") Cayugabirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/cayugabirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) aba_DOT_org/birding-news/ Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
