Tuesday - Grassland Birds

-5/25/2021
-6:30-11:30 am EST
-Martha Lafite Thompson Wildlife Sanctuary
-Overcast (40% cloud cover), Light 15mph S wind, 73 degrees Fahrenheit. 74% Humidity

Grassland areas at the sanctuary displayed much lower bird diversity and abundance. I primarily observed Tree Swallows, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and Indigo Buntings in the grassland habitat, while the bulk of my observations occurred in the surrounding wooded areas. I spent a lot of time and effort searching in the grassland habitat so I feel that my lack of success was likely due to poor habitat quality as opposed to lack of trying.

I used Allan's old bobolink data for a paper last semester that looked at Bobolink ideal habitat conditions (measured by observed abundance). When I was conducting literature reviews many sources discussed the effect of vegetation height, vegetation density, and field size on grassland passerine abundance. These papers indicated that ideal habitat for Bobolinks and many other grassland passerines consisted of medium-tall and dense vegetation in large and unfragmented fields. The grassland area that I observed the majority of my grassland species in had high, dense, and heterogenous vegetation, but was not very expansive and was fragmented by wide, mowed trails.

Posted on May 25, 2021 11:17 PM by ben__simms