Kudos to the the birders for advocating on behalf of the sparrows and kudos to
Talon Winery for having the sensitivity to help the birds succeed. Makes me
want to drink more wine - from Talon Winery!
Ceci & friends at
The Far Side Farm
On Wednesday, September 8, 2021, 10:37:02 AM EDT, Jeanne
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Bravo, Katey!! Thanks!
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 8, 2021, at 10:31 AM, Ronan O'Carra <ronan.o.carra@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The breeding season for the Talon Winery Henlow’s Sparrows has come to an
end. Talon Winery has been very open to holding off mowing in the lot of
grassland we had marked off to allow them to successfully breed.
A couple of weeks ago I had visited to find an adult carrying food and
continually dropping in to an area with a presumed nest. This would seem to
be a second brood for the location. They had been due to cut the grass the
following week but thanks to the intervention of Katey Buster they agreed to
hold off mowing until a couple of days ago in the hopes of the birds
fledging. They let us know when they were to mow so a few of us went out to
watch the proceedings. We saw two Henslow’s fly from the area. One of those
was photographed revealing it to be a fledgling bird thus showing that
Talon’s delay in mowing led to a successful second brood for these birds.
The importance of this is twofold; firstly that mowing large pastures and
preserving a small acreage for Henslow’s Sparrows does not dissuade them from
coming back in subsequent years (this process was first used last year);
Secondly, that the season in Kentucky is long enough for double-brooding for
Henslow’s Sparrow’s (one wonders if, similar to Sedge Wrens, late breeding of
more northerly birds that relocate here could occur).
Ronan O’Carra
Lexington
