Maggie's Farm

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Sunday, March 27. 2022

Two Eastern US bird species which I have not seen lately

It's not about "climate change", it's about the loss of farm fields in the Northeast. Raggedy pasture is not much of a thing anymore. Pastures are back to woods, or to suburban sprawl, so these species are dropping in population.


When I was a kid, I would hear Bobolinks singing all the time during their migration from Argentina to the north. Spink spank spink.


Another pasture bird is the Eastern Meadowlark. Neither of these like lawns, but prefer 1000s of acres of hayfields and pastures.


Both of these birds are in the Blackbird family. 

Posted by Bird Dog in Natural History and Conservation at 16:59 | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0)

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I haven't thought about bobolinks in ages. I grew up in the Midwest on the edge of a small town. Catching fireflies in a summer's evening. Cottonwood snow at the end of the school year. Skating on the waterhole at the golf course in the winter... Find childhood memories.

I remember bobolinks because of the name. It was a great name to say was a kid. But it was one of the few bird songs I could recognize. Bobwhites, of course. And whippoorwills, are also easy. But maybe I tried harder with bobolinks because I like the name..

I want to move back to where I spent my childhood. The town of my childhood is nothing like it was. But the fireflies are still there and the cottonwoods. I shouldn't skate at my age. I hope the bobolinks are still there.
#1 Lee Also (Link) on 2022-03-27 18:48 (Reply)
If you are able, move back there. We finally were able to escape the St. Louis area and move outside a smaller town. Of course those running the small town can't wait to make it "grow". Your whole body and soul will take a deep breath and live like you want, much happier. It is like the attitude of the areas we grew up in, stepping back in time. I curse the so called leaders in the town for what they wish on the people in the name of making certain people more wealthy by allowing development that isn't remotely responsible. It is better to be somewhat peaceful when you are nearing the timeframe end of your life.
#1.1 JC on 2022-03-28 08:53 (Reply)
In highway engineering projects in Ontario, we have been actively avoiding bobolink and meadowlark habitat, and buying appropriate habitat property as offsets for any impacted habitat.

So, we're helping. Somewhat.
#2 Eeyore on 2022-03-28 07:24 (Reply)
Was a time of almost complete forestation. Along came people with axes and plows, making farm fields and pastures. What birds and other wildlife were replaced? "I want it to be as I remember" sounds somewhat eco-rabid.
#3 SgtBob (Link) on 2022-03-28 12:19 (Reply)
Meadowlarks have come through on the migration through Texas. Stayed for a couple of weeks and have moved on. Killdeer are back for ground nesters.
#4 MC on 2022-03-28 15:34 (Reply)
I saw a bobolink (migrating through, I'm sure) once as a child. My father, who was from MA, identified it for me and mentioned the oddity of seeing only one. Meadowlarks used to be common in my uncle's pasture here in upstate SC, but the pestilential influx of coyotes seems to have done all of our ground-nesting birds a great deal of harm. My grandfather taught me how to whistle up a bobwhite, but that's a skill I have no use for now, as I haven't heard any calls in years. I still hear the occasional whippoorwill--maybe one a summer.
#5 SC Reader on 2022-03-28 17:26 (Reply)
In visits to my NE hometown, I have noticed that much land that was pasture in my childhood is now forest.
#6 Gringo on 2022-03-28 19:18 (Reply)

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