Re: [cayugabirds-l] meadowlark question

2013-06-27 Thread Geo Kloppel
(As I was saying) ... so there's no magic date by which you can be sure the 
nesting is done, and still have time to make good hay. At some point you have 
to say OK, time to mow!

-Geo 
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Re: [cayugabirds-l] meadowlark question

2013-06-27 Thread Geo Kloppel
First brood is probably fledged, but Eastern Meadowlarks may raise two broods, 
and in New York State Meadowlark eggs have been seen as late as August 1st 
(BBA). So there's no magic date by which

-Geo 

On Jun 26, 2013, at 9:38 PM, Alicia Plotkin t...@zoom-dsl.com wrote:

 A meadowlark was singing on territory in  neighbor's hayfield at least by 
 April 28th this year.  I heard him regularly, early in the day, for over a 
 month and then my schedule changed so I do't really know if he still is 
 singing there mornings or not.
 
 To my surprise, our neighbor just asked me if 'those birds of yours have 
 finished with their nests' because he has been waiting to mow (!), but he 
 says he can't wait much longer or his machinery will jam.  A little research 
 suggests that from first egg to fledging is under 30 days - so would it be 
 safe to say that the meadowlarks should be finished nesting and it's OK to 
 mow there now?
 
 BTW, I'm pretty sure there aren't any bobolinks are in that field - the only 
 male we had this year seems to have left after the field across the road was 
 mowed late last month.   :-(The sad thing is that even just ten years ago 
 we had scores of bobolinks and maybe a dozen male meadowlarks, as well as 
 grasshopper  more common grassland sparrows, and usually harriers, nesting 
 on this one half mile stretch of road, but agricultural uses of the land have 
 changed and now there is only this tiny remnant holding on ...
 
 So would really like to make sure this last meadowlark male  his harem have 
 had the chance to finish nesting, but not prolong it to the point where my 
 neighbor doesn't want to do this in future years.  Is it safe to tell him to 
 go ahead and mow?
 
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Re: [cayugabirds-l] meadowlark question

2013-06-27 Thread Anne Clark
I would agree on the first broods being out and fly-worthy by now, most likely. 
 And second or later broods are probably generally less successful, at least in 
such birds as Red-winged Blackbirds that actually do NOT raise two broods 
around here, although they may try-try-again as many as 4 times.  Are Eastern 
Meadowlarks known to fledge and rear two broods?  I wonder.  In any case, now 
is much less likely to have an impact on successful, likely-to-survive young 
birds. 

Out my way, near Freeville, massive cutting of fields happened in 2nd week of 
June and I am pretty sure that redwings lost many broods, directly to mowing or 
indirectly to the hawks, crows and others (even Killdeer?) who immediately 
recruited to the fields.  It was not an early year for redwing nesting, from 
what I could tell, and the parents were going in and out of specific sites 
still when the mowing happened.  I had not seen any fledglings.  

So not only is there not single magic date, that date changes from year to 
year... 

Anne

 
On Jun 27, 2013, at 6:45 AM, Geo Kloppel wrote:

 First brood is probably fledged, but Eastern Meadowlarks may raise two 
 broods, and in New York State Meadowlark eggs have been seen as late as 
 August 1st (BBA). So there's no magic date by which
 
 -Geo 
 
 On Jun 26, 2013, at 9:38 PM, Alicia Plotkin t...@zoom-dsl.com wrote:
 
 A meadowlark was singing on territory in  neighbor's hayfield at least by 
 April 28th this year.  I heard him regularly, early in the day, for over a 
 month and then my schedule changed so I do't really know if he still is 
 singing there mornings or not.
 
 To my surprise, our neighbor just asked me if 'those birds of yours have 
 finished with their nests' because he has been waiting to mow (!), but he 
 says he can't wait much longer or his machinery will jam.  A little research 
 suggests that from first egg to fledging is under 30 days - so would it be 
 safe to say that the meadowlarks should be finished nesting and it's OK to 
 mow there now?
 
 BTW, I'm pretty sure there aren't any bobolinks are in that field - the only 
 male we had this year seems to have left after the field across the road was 
 mowed late last month.   :-(The sad thing is that even just ten years 
 ago we had scores of bobolinks and maybe a dozen male meadowlarks, as well 
 as grasshopper  more common grassland sparrows, and usually harriers, 
 nesting on this one half mile stretch of road, but agricultural uses of the 
 land have changed and now there is only this tiny remnant holding on ...
 
 So would really like to make sure this last meadowlark male  his harem have 
 had the chance to finish nesting, but not prolong it to the point where my 
 neighbor doesn't want to do this in future years.  Is it safe to tell him to 
 go ahead and mow?
 
 --
 
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[cayugabirds-l] Heron dinner

2013-06-27 Thread Nancy W. Dickinson
Imagine my surprise to find a shiny green mini lobster (crayfish) dead but 
intact on my garden path. I assume a green heron dropped it en route from 
Taughannock Creek to the nest in our spruce trees. Imagine their disappointment!

Sent from my iPhone

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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Heron dinner

2013-06-27 Thread Donna Scott
I often find pieces of crayfish and even shellfish under the trees in my yard, 
here by the lake, no doubt from birds eating them in the trees and dropping the 
parts. 

Sent from my iPhone
Donna Scott

On Jun 27, 2013, at 9:24 AM, Nancy W. Dickinson n...@cornell.edu wrote:

 Imagine my surprise to find a shiny green mini lobster (crayfish) dead but 
 intact on my garden path. I assume a green heron dropped it en route from 
 Taughannock Creek to the nest in our spruce trees. Imagine their 
 disappointment!
 
 Sent from my iPhone
 
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Re: [cayugabirds-l] meadowlark question

2013-06-27 Thread Geo Kloppel
The NY breeding season table in the BBA handbook says 1-2 broods for Eastern 
Meadowlark, but gives no indication of how common second broods might be.

I suppose you could watch the field closely for evidence of a second nesting, 
but if your goal is to win the cooperation of farmers, then it might be much 
wiser to settle for having delayed just long enough to see the first brood 
fledged, and still get a good first cutting.

-Geo
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[cayugabirds-l] Seeking bird images for Merlin project

2013-06-27 Thread Scott Haber
Cayugabirders:

The team working on the Merlin project at the Lab is still in need of some
images of a few common bird species for our collaboration with the
Visipedia project on computer vision technology as it applies to bird photo
ID. If you're unfamiliar with Merlin, or need more details on the use of
the images, you can read more here:
http://dev.nabirds.org/Web/Tools/ImageUpload/pages/about.php

We're getting very close to completing a data-set, and the following birds
are categories in which we're still lacking:

*European Starling (**Juveniles/Fledglings only)**
*
*Indigo Bunting (**Females only)*
*Rock Pigeon*
*Baltimore Oriole (**Females/juveniles only)*
*Brown-headed Cowbird (**Females/juveniles only)*
*
*
These images do not have to be magazine quality or shot with professional
gear. The main criteria we're looking for are images that have a single
bird that's fairly large in the frame, and without significant obstruction
of the bird's body by vegetation or other objects.

If you have images of any of the birds listed above and are willing to
donate them for use in the Merlin project, it would be fantastic if you
could email me ASAP. If you have already uploaded images via our ImageShare
site, we're not looking for duplicates: only photos that have not yet been
contributed to Merlin.

Many thanks,
Scott


---
*Scott Haber*
Digital Content Manager
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Ithaca, NY

*sa...@cornell.edu
(607)254-1102*

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