[Birdtalk] One birders answer to Connie's question

[Bill Fenimore]

Greetings:

Reading Paul Higgins account of the hay mowing incident that eliminated the Bobolink nests and nestlings in Huntsville, reminded me of a program that I was involved with in my native Pennsylvania many years ago.  We were trying to improve nesting success for Ring-necked Pheasants.  A study showed that delaying hay mowing by only 14 days improved pheasant nesting success by 80%.  Traditional mowing where the farmer were trying to get 4 cuttings a season reduced seasonal nesting success by 90% with the first hay cutting.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission (our DWR counterpart) developed a program where it paid farmers to delay mowing by this 14 day window.  The study had showed that hatched birds were off the nest and following the hen when the delayed hay cutting was conducted.  It was only this first cutting that was the critical hay crop to delay.  The farmer was paid the value of the cutting at the current market price for the portion of his field that was reserved and not harvested during the first cutting.  

Interestingly, the Pennsylvania program found that only the first 30 yards of a hay field bordered by a woodland was the preferred nesting habitat of the hen pheasant not the entire field.   As an example, assume a 40 acre hay field is bordered on all sides by a woodland.  This acreage equals 193,600 square yards.  A 30 yard border of that field would equal 66,000 square yards.  This is roughly 1/3 of the total acreage that was required for the delayed mowing portion.  The  other 2/3 was mowed within the regular schedule.  
Farmers enthusiastically cooperated and this new agricultural mowing program procedure saved those hatch year birds.

Our DWR currently has been working very hard and successfully implemented a program called "Walk In Access."   The proactive Walk In Access program is designed to improve opportunity for anglers and hunters to be able to utilize private property that is otherwise posted "No Trespassing."  The program pays cooperating land owners who grant access permission to anglers and hunters on their private property.  The amount of the payment is based on the amount of acreage involved and other conditions, such as stream frontage, etc.  DWR's Northern Region office has pioneered this program.  Clint Brunson is the biologist who has managed it.  His success is now being used to expand the program in other regions of Utah.

Perhaps, DWR can consider a further expansion of this access program concept to use any available funds that DWR may have dedicated to sensitive species conservation and/or request a wildlife grant to fund and conduct a study of the nesting/fledging requirements of Bobolink.  The study would be designed to show whether such a delayed hay mowing program has merit.  The study parameters could include known bobolink nesting habitats, so that the size and scope of such an endeavor would be understood.  Ideally, such a study would include a finding whether it is feasible to fund a program where DWR and partnering conservations organizations pay farmers to delay mowing to improve nesting success of this sensitive species where they exist.  Bobolink are a Tier II Species of High Concern in Utah.  Only those fields where bobolink are known to nest would be involved in such a program.  This would keep the economic scope of such a proposed program limited and economically feasible and manageable.

The Utah Audubon Council or regional state Audubon chapters and other birding groups could consider a partnering effort with DWR in such a program.  DWR and other angling and hunting groups, such as the National Wild Turkey Foundation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Mule Deer Foundation, Wild Sheep Foundation, Trout and Ducks Unlimited, etc., have successfully partnered to improve habitat for those focused species.  Expanding projects with merit, like the Walk In Access program to include this concept with a focus on enhancing nesting success for a sensitive species, such as bobolink through partnerships with traditional "Watchable Wildlife" conservation organizations like Utah Wildlife In Need (UWIN), Audubon, The Nature Conservancy, and DWR could become another conservation success for a sensitive species of high concern in Utah.

Regards,  

Bill Fenimore
Utah Audubon Policy Advocate

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Paul Higgins 
  To: birdtalk at utahbirds.org 
  Sent: Saturday, May 23, 2009 5:37 PM
  Subject: [Birdtalk] One birders answer to Connie's question


  Connie,

  Last summer I had four breeding pair of Bobolinks in Weber County with young about a week away from fledging.  I talked to the farmer about not cutting his grass.  I explained to him how rare and beautiful the birds were and wondered if he could wait till the young fledged, probably a week at most. 

  He said he would think about it.  I drove by the next day, the grass was mowed and the birds were gone.  I was deeply sadened as if a part of me was gone.  All you can do is try you're best to educate. But it will happen. Sadly, we all have similar stories. Here's a link to images I took of those Bobolinks. Most of these were in Weber County.  http://www.pbase.com/phiggins/bobolink




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