RE: [cayugabirds-l] Size of Acreage needed to host ground nesting birds?

2025-04-14 Thread Robyn Bailey 
Just to add to what others have said, it’s important to keep in mind that there 
are plenty of common ground-nesting birds that might be in a meadow that are 
not as elusive as Bobolinks and Eastern Meadowlarks, etc. Consider the 
Killdeer, Wild Turkey, and Song Sparrow as examples of a few such species that 
would be affected by the mowing of smaller parcels. So I wouldn’t say you don’t 
need to be concerned about disturbing ground-nesting birds at all on smaller 
parcels, even in your backyard.

Take care,

Robyn Bailey
NestWatch Project Leader
Cornell Lab of Ornithology

From: [email protected] 
 On Behalf Of [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, April 12, 2025 4:10 PM
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L 
Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Size of Acreage needed to host ground nesting 
birds?

Tom Gavin (Professor Emeritus, Cornell University) & Noah Perlot (Professor, 
Univ of New England) are recognized experts on grassland nesting birds.  Their 
work was the basis for worksheets developed for landowners by the Ag 
Allies<https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b4e0a6912b13ffa1db85e3f/t/6229fd492451f0640b2da354/1646918986348/AAFactSheet-Landowners.pdf>
 program in Maine.  Their 
advice<https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b4e0a6912b13ffa1db85e3f/t/6229fd492451f0640b2da354/1646918986348/AAFactSheet-Landowners.pdf>
 to landowners was that an 8 acre parcel is large enough to support bobolinks, 
other grassland nesting birds might require 15 acres or more.

Also, a few years ago Donna Scott kindly referred me to a pamphlet distributed 
by NYS Cornell Coop Extension on managing hayfields for grassland nesting 
birds<https://nyfoa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/HayfieldsGrassland_Birds_3MB.pdf>.
  This pamphlet uses 10-12 acres as the threshold.

Alicia

On 4/12/2025 12:54 PM, madonna stallmann 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
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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Size of Acreage needed to host ground nesting birds?

2025-04-12 Thread tess 
Tom Gavin (Professor Emeritus, Cornell University) & Noah Perlot 
(Professor, Univ of New England) are recognized experts on grassland 
nesting birds.  Their work was the basis for worksheets developed for 
landowners by the Ag Allies 

 
program in Maine. Their advice 

 
to landowners was that an 8 acre parcel is large enough to support 
bobolinks, other grassland nesting birds might require 15 acres or more.

Also, a few years ago Donna Scott kindly referred me to a pamphlet 
distributed by NYS Cornell Coop Extension on managing hayfields for 
grassland nesting birds 
.
 
This pamphlet uses 10-12 acres as the threshold.

Alicia


On 4/12/2025 12:54 PM, madonna stallmann 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
> --
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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Size of Acreage needed to host ground nesting birds?

2025-04-12 Thread Jody Enck 
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 <
[email protected]> 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
> 
> Rules and Information
> 
> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave
> 
> *Archives:*
> The Mail Archive
> 
> Surfbirds 
> ABA 
> *Please submit your observations to eBird
> !*
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>

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[cayugabirds-l] Size of Acreage needed to host ground nesting birds?

2025-04-12 Thread madonna stallmann 
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

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