[cayugabirds-l] Nest box guards

[Patrizia Sione]

Hello,

Apologies if this question has appeared on this list before.

Have folks been successful with guards attached to the opening of nest boxes, 
to prevent raccoons and other animals from disturbing nests? If so, what 
type/brand would you recommend? 

Many thanks,
Patrizia


--

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] Fwd: update: Mowing fields and nesting

[Patrizia Sione]

Hello,

Below is the response I got from the person I contacted at Cooperative 
Extension.

Patrizia


> 
> 
> Patrizia - I got more information about mowing early in the season. I also 
> talked with Graham Savio (CCE Tompkins Ag Issue Leader) who is hoping to 
> develop a payment for ecosystem services regarding nesting sometime this next 
> year (fingers crossed).
> 
> ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- RESPONSE FROM FARMER -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
> Thanks for reaching out.  Mowing as early as possible in the season is tied 
> to nutritional quality of the feed.  If we were to move mowing to August, the 
> crop would have significantly less nutritional value than mowing in late 
> May/early June.  I do recognize that it is a hazard for ground nesting birds. 
>  You could share that many fields that farmers graze in, they hold off on 
> clipping these pastures in order to provide habitat for these populations.  I 
> myself do that - the field you and I were in up top - I often wait until the 
> bobolinks have fledged to clip that field.  It's not a perfect answer, but 
> it's the best answer I can provide!


--

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/

--

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Fields being mowed.

[Patrizia Sione]

Cornell has a cooperative extension program with an agricultural section, which 
provides education on “good” agricultural practices to local farmers. I 
remember reading somewhere that fields are mowed in June to cut off seed heads 
from weeds.  I contacted cooperative extension asking if this is the reason and 
what the alternatives, if any, are (such as obviously postponing the mowing, 
but who knows, anything else?).

Patrizia


On Jun 15, 2021, at 5:25 PM, darlingtonbets 
mailto:darlingtonb...@gmail.com>> wrote:

Can someone take on writing a letter to the Ithaca Journal - if possible, with 
some photos?  How about a petition, too?
It's one thing if it's farmers who have to support themselves, but CORNELL?! I 
can just imagine all their rationalizations!
Betsy


Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

 Original message 
From: Melissa Groo mailto:melg...@gmail.com>>
Date: 6/15/21 4:53 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: Nancy Cusumano mailto:nancycusuman...@gmail.com>>
Cc: CAYUGABIRDS-L 
mailto:cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu>>, 
"Kenneth V. Rosenberg" mailto:k...@cornell.edu>>, Linda Orkin 
mailto:wingmagi...@gmail.com>>
Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Fields being mowed.

Also, if anyone would get photos of the distressed parents flying/hovering in 
the same frame as the mowers, those photos would go a long way too. (I would 
volunteer but I’m out of town right now.)

The photos could be used in an article or editorial of some kind, that needs to 
be written.

Melissa



On Tue, Jun 15, 2021 at 2:28 PM Nancy Cusumano 
mailto:nancycusuman...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Ken,

May I use your words in my letters? I think I will go straight to the top with 
this issue.

I will paraphrase...

Nancy

On Tue, Jun 15, 2021 at 4:07 PM Kenneth V. Rosenberg 
mailto:k...@cornell.edu>> wrote:
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
Wk: 607-254-2412
Cell: 607-342-4594


From: 
bounce-125714085-3493...@list.cornell.edu
 
mailto:bounce-125714085-3493...@list.cornell.edu>>
 on behalf of Linda Orkin mailto:wingmagi...@gmail.com>>
Date: Tuesday, June 15, 2021 at 3:02 PM
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L 
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 

Re: [cayugabirds-l] transport a mallard to Swanson?

[Patrizia Sione]

My husband and I are leaving Cortland shortly to try. If anyone decides to try 
and/or succeeds, please let me know.

Thanks
Patrizia

From: bounce-125629766-12685...@list.cornell.edu 
 on behalf of Nancy Cusumano 

Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2021 4:13:47 PM
To: William Baker 
Cc: CAYUGABIRDS-L 
Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] transport a mallard to Swanson?

Thank you for trying.

On Wed, May 12, 2021 at 4:12 PM William Baker 
mailto:bilba...@icloud.com>> wrote:
We were unable to catch it.

Sent from my iPhone

On May 12, 2021, at 4:05 PM, William Baker 
mailto:bilba...@icloud.com>> wrote:

Hi all- I am here with Melissa Groo. Who ever else comes down will need a net. 
The bird can fly short distances and there is the risk of it getting into the 
water

Bill Baker

Sent from my iPhone

On May 12, 2021, at 2:44 PM, Nancy Cusumano 
mailto:nancycusuman...@gmail.com>> wrote:


this is from the Mutual Aid Tompkins county FB page, is there anyone downtown 
who could collect and transport him?

Any wildlife rescuers downtown? There is a male duck sitting in the grass just 
off of the wood chip path at Titus Triangle Park. The duck’s back right food is 
tangled in fishing line with a large weight attached to it. The duck’s
location is roughly across the street from 413 S Titus.
Cornell Wildlife Swanson Center has been called. Is anyone available to bring 
the duck to them (covering the duck with a towel and putting it in a box). FYI, 
its mate is hanging out in the grass a few feet away. There is someone who can 
go back after 4:15 to help but, if someone is available sooner, that’d be ideal 
since the duck seems pretty uncomfortable.
--
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:
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/

--

[cayugabirds-l] Dead birds under the thistle feeder

[Patrizia Sione]

Hello all,

In the course of the past 10 days, we have discovered a dead bird under a 
feeder in three separate occasions, the latest this morning.  No apparent 
injury.  The thistle is fresh (it goes pretty quickly) and we keep the feeders 
clean and sanitized. We called the Cornell hospital but they did not accept our 
request to have a necropsy conducted on the birds (we kept two of them in a 
sealed freezer bag  outside).  We have decals and nets outside our windows to 
prevent birds from hitting them.  

Any ideas about what could be causing this and how to prevent it from happening 
again?  It is the first time it has ever happened to us in the 10 years we’ve 
lived in our present location, and all this time we’ve fed birds.

Many thanks,
Patrizia Sione



--

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] Osprey at Stewart Park in Ithaca

[Patrizia Sione]

Building nest as we speak on power utility pole by the inlet (near playground).
Patrizia

--

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/

--