[obol] Streaked Horned Larks on private ag land -- a Monday morning sampler
- From: Joel Geier <joel.geier@xxxxxxxx>
- To: MidValley Birds <birding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Oregon Birders OnLine <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 19:51:50 -0700
Hi all,
Today after working on some Grasshopper Sparrow and Western Meadowlark
territory mapping west of Eugene, Bob Altman and I took a meandering
course back through the areas north of there, checking on STREAKED
HORNED LARKS.
As noted previously, this subspecies is our latest addition to the
species that are listed under the Endangered Species Act, here in
Oregon. They're listed as "Threatened," which is the same level as for
the Northern Spotted Owl, Marbled Murrelet, and coastal population of
Western Snowy Plovers. There is a good argument -- based on Breeding
Birds Survey trends and overall numbers -- that an "Endangered" listing
would have been more appropriate.
The reason for the "Threatened" rather than "Endangered" listing status
basically hinges upon the hope that a few small patches of federally
protected land (the mid-Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuges)
will provide a sufficient anchor for this taxon.
Unfortunately, the majority of these birds are nesting on private lands
that received no protection from the listing decision.
Today we made a quick drive-by assessment of how that's working out on
lands near the Eugene airport:
1) Bodenhamer Rd. and Green Hill Rd: A field with several Horned larks
singing 3-4 days ago was being plowed today.
2) Meadowview Rd: No recent tillage but grass sprouting in rows,
suggesting that a grain-drill was run through a field (within the past
2-3 weeks) which previously hosted singing Horned Larks. Two fields with
larks farther west had recently been tilled.
3) Alvadore Rd. a few hundred yards north of Hwy 36: 1 Horned Lark
singing in a pastured grass field, seemed to be doing OK.
4) Ferguson Rd: 3 or 4 males singing in a corn field with 4-inch-high
plants. Although this habitat seems secure at least until the corn
plants grow taller than larks prefer, we wondered why they were in there
-- until we saw that the next field to the west had just been plowed.
These are not systematic observations. However, they point to the need
for systematic documentation of these types of impacts, on our region's
newest ESA-listed Threatened taxon.
Again, if your interested in helping to document these impacts, please
let me know.
Good birding,
Joel
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
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