Menunkatuck Audubon Society: Bending the Curve for Grassland Birds-The Bobolink Project & More

In the last 50 years, 2.9 billion breeding adult birds have been lost from the United States and Canada. To put it another way, we’ve lost more than a quarter of our birdlife since 1970. These findings were reported in the world’s leading scientific journal, Science.

Grassland birds are hard hit, with a 53% reduction in population — more than 720 million birds. In the Northeast some species no longer breed. This decline is largely due to hayfield mowing during the weeks that species such as Savannah Sparrows, Bobolinks, and Eastern Meadowlarks are actively nesting. New England’s working farmers, in particular, face financial pressures that force them to mow earlier and more frequently. To protect these grassland birds we must develop new strategies.

Margaret Fowle will discuss grassland bird ecology and some of the challenges these species face in the Northeastern US. She will present some strategies such as the Bobolink Project designed to mitigate and potentially reverse the population declines of this important suite of species.

Margaret Fowle is a conservation biologist and Program Manager with Audubon Vermont’s Priority Bird and Working Lands Initiatives. Prior to coming to Audubon in 2009, Margaret coordinated Peregrine Falcon and Bald Eagle recovery efforts in Vermont. Margaret obtained her Master’s degree in wildlife biology from the University of Vermont.

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