Species Accounts

	Species Accounts: Below are species accounts within the various taxa found in the East Quabbin area. Phenology, life history, habitat requirements, frequency and local occurence information will be listed for many species in order to summarize how each species is using the area, how they might be observed, and ultimately, preserved. This is a big project, so check back regularly for new additions. And, if there's a species you'd like to see summarized, just drop a line at dryoptera@yahoo.com . Birds Bobolink: Bobolinks are grassland specialists, relying heavily on local hayfileds for their reproductive success. In the blackbird family, male bobolinks can be told by their striking plumage: black bodies with white backs and yellow crowns. They are often seen in the summer hovering over hayfileds as their complex song pours out (link below). Females are much more drab, streaked in browns much like a sparrow. Bobolinks are one of our champion migrants, spending winters as far south as the plains of Argentina. Males arrive to our area in early May and immediately begin setting up breeding territories in open fields. Female arrive shortly after, and by early July their young will have begun to fledge from nests and disperse. Autumn sees large flocks of bobolinks roving around the countryside, feeding in weedy fields and marshes. Because bobolinks depend upon hayfileds for the majority of their breeding success, they, along with many other grassland specialists, have been experiencing dramatic population declines over the past few decades. The problem is that when these birds arrive to the breeding grounds they encounter what appears to be prime habitat in our hayfileds. However, these fields are often cut as the breeding season is in progress, resulting in year after year of zero reproduction from pairs using these fields. In effect, these fields become ecological sinks, drawing in breeding birds who expend their energies throughout the breeding cycle, but are never actually able to fledge young. This early cutting, along with habitat being lost to development and succerssion is having a severe impact on our grassland birds. But not all is lost, and with some adjustment, many of our local hayfileds can be managed as agricultural grasslands: areas that are functional for both the hay farmer and the birds that rely upon their fields. The first step is to consider the cut date. Of course later is better for the birds, though many Bobolinks have fledged their young by the last week of June. Holding off the cut to the fourth of July weekend will really go a long way toward turning around recent reproductive trends. Another consideration is to harvest fields from the inside out. Typically fields are cut from the outside in, in effect, rounding up all the animals into the middle of the field where they are cut up in the blade's final pass. Cutting from the inside out simply drives animals to the edge and away from the blade. Finally, if the hay field is in fact a safe habitat (delayed cut), steps can be taken to maximize its production. Essentially, the larger a field is, the more pairs and the greater the pair density it will be capable of supporting. Such steps as removing hedgerows that divide fields will create the contiguous open habitat that favors increased numbers of breeding grassland birds. If you have further interest in creating agricultrual grasslands in your hayfields, please contact the East Quabbin Land Trust for further information and advice. Local examples of avian sensitive agricultural grasslands are EQLT's Mandel Hill property at the intersection of Barre and Ridge Roads, Hardwick, and TTOR's North Common Meadows just past Petersham center on route 32.