Entries Tagged 'Prairie Conservation' ↓
February 4th, 2008 — Prairie Conservation
The Sprague’s Pipit (Anthus spragueii) is a difficult bird to find and is becoming more so with loss of its native habitat. With the restricted breeding range and its unassuming appearance, the Sprague’s Pipit is poorly known.
Photo Used with permission from Steve Collins, Odephoto
Sprague’s Pipit passes through Illinois each year, but in small numbers (Illinois Records of Sprague’s Pipit). Birders have an easier chance of seeing this bird at the following important breeding sites:
- Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan, Canada
- Govenlock-Nashlyn-Battle Creek Grasslands Important Bird Area, Saskatchewan, Canada
- Canadian Forces Base Suffield National Wildlife Area, Alberta, Canada
- Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge, Montana
- Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Montana
- Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge, North Dakota
- Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge, North Dakota
- Little Missouri National Grassland, North Dakota
Or at these wintering sites:
Sprague’s Pipit Conservation
Currently there is no range-wide conservation plan but some efforts are in place to add mix-grass prairie acreage to current protected areas. For example, Grasslands National Park is expected to increase in size to 226,500 acres, nearly twice what it is currently.
The Prairie Pothole Joint Venture is working to conserve habitat in a 5.5 million acre area around Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge in North Dakota. Called the Chase Lake Prairie Project, the area is set to protect one of the largest intact native prairies in the state.
The conservation needs of Sprague’s Pipit, according to the Birder’s Conservation Handbook, include:
- Develop a range-wide conservation plan
- Incorporate habitat objectives into public land management
- Provide incentives for private land owners to manage their lands to the benefit of Sprague’s Pipit and other native grassland species
- Purchase land or conservation easements on private lands that still support healthy populations of Sprague’s Pipit
- Increase monitoring and life history research, especially on wintering grounds and during migration (something a citizen science project could acheive
As of 2004, the Sprague’s Pipit population was estimated at 870,000 and Breeding Bird Survey analysis shows a sharp decline. We as birders care about this species as we care about birds in general, but how do we convince land owners, politicians, and concerned citizens to care about a discreet bird of the sparsely populated prairie lands?
Read about the Sprague’s Pipit and 99 other birds in need of conservation in The Birder’s Conservation Handbook.
January 14th, 2008 — Prairie Conservation
In native prairies few plants compare to the versitality and beauty of the Cup Plant or Cupplant (Silphium perfoliatum). This yellow-flowered plant grows to three to ten feet tall and provides a wonderful resource for birds. The Cupplant provides shelter, food, and the “cups” actually catch and store rainwater that birds can drink from.
Cupplant behind Compassplant, another great prairie plant
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January 7th, 2008 — Prairie Conservation
The Prairie Pothole Region is found in the northern Great Plains of North America. The region consists of grass-covered wetland habitats covered with few-to-many shallow depressions called either potholes or sloughs, and they were made 10,000 years ago as glaciers retreated. Prairie potholes are usually filled with water and are included in many habitat restoration projects.
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December 10th, 2007 — Prairie Conservation
Bird Conservation Region (BCR) #22 is known as the Eastern Tallgrass Prairie. This once vast habitat stretched from central Ohio west to eastern Nebraska and Kansas and included almost the entire state of Illinois. It was this “endless” prairie that earned Illinois the nickname of The Prairie State, a sad misnomer today.
Goose Lake Prairie, Illinois
This bird conservation region also held a great oak savanna landscape that is today in serious peril. Some of the main threats include:
- urbanization
- recreational development
- agricultural expansion
Birds like the Greater Prairie-Chicken and Henslow’s Sparrow still persist in this conservation region but need solid conservation efforts to stop their decline. In the Oak Savannah, Red-headed Woodpeckers are still fairly common but have been declining at a rapid pace.
Red-headed Woodpecker
Some great places to find prairie habitat in BCR 22 are:
While much of the Tallgrass Prairies have been lost, there is still time to convert farmland into prairie. With a wide effort from private landowners as well as some government incentives, prairie conservation can increase, as well as the birds of the prairie.
Another view of Goose Lake Prairie
December 3rd, 2007 — Prairie Conservation
Ted Turner, the billionaire media mogul, has recently purchased more land in the Great Plains. With over 2 million acres, he is the largest private landowner in the U.S. His recent acquisitions have made people question his intentions.
The Turner Foundation has generously donated millions to various environmental groups over the years. Recently his foundation has been in negotiations with the World Wildlife Fund and the World Conservation Union. The objective seems to be the conservation of bison. According to the Associated Press, Turner “owns land in at least nine states, with most of his holdings in New Mexico, Nebraska, Montana and South Dakota, and is restoring buffalo, cutthroat trout, wolves, black-footed ferrets and other flora and fauna that filled the Plains before the West was won.”
Although Turner hasn’t committed on his plans, others have speculated on his motivations. Is it conservation or greed? Is he trying to make money by snapping up all the land he can lay his hands? Does he intend to hand the land over to the U.S. government and create a wildlife refuge?
Conspiracy theories abound.
He is scheming, perhaps with the United Nations, to create a vast wildlife refuge and turn it over to the federal government, removing the land from Nebraska’s tax rolls. That could hurt Nebraska schools and other services, which are already starved for cash.
Local farmers and ranchers that cannot compete with Turner for land are justified in being concerned. They probably resent the billionaire’s presence.
But what about environmentalists? Should they care if Turner’s primary motivation is profit? After all, Turner’s land provides a haven for many of the species we care about.
It doesn’t appear that he plans to develop the land for commercial use. This land will not be littered with Wal-marts, McDonald’s, and big block stores anytime soon. A lot of people who care about the environment would try to preserve as much land as they could, if they had the money. We don’t have the money. He does.
November 13th, 2007 — Prairie Conservation
The Nature Conservancy’s Prairie Wings project has mapped out the places needing conservation to protect thirteen birds of the prairie/grasslands. These include:
- Lark Bunting
- Cassin’s Sparrow
- Lesser Prairie-Chicken
- Greater Prairie-Chicken
- Sprague’s Pipit
- Ferruginous Hawk
- McCown’s Longspur
- Scaled Quail
- Long-billed Curlew
- Baird’s Sparrow
- Burrowing Owl
- Mountain Plover
- Chestnut-collared Longspur
The Nature Conservancy’s site has detailed species profiles on these 13 birds, including the places they are protecting for them. The Nature Conservancy has been a leader on bird conservation and continues to not just provide insight into the problems birds face, but provides solutions to these problems.
August 2nd, 2007 — Prairie Conservation
There is a place in Prairie City, Iowa “where the buffalo roam” called Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge. Here you will find a large reconstruction of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem, one of the biggest in the United States. This refuge is getting better every year, thanks to the many volunteers that collect seeds and re-plant them and also remove invasive species such as Queen Anne’s Lace. There are good walking trails and an auto-tour which makes it easy to go birding and explore.
The birds are returning to the refuge — Dickcissels are common in summer and fall.
Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge (formerly Walnut Creek), located in Jasper County, Iowa, is a unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System administered by the federal government. The Refuge was created by an act of Congress in 1990 to re-create 8000 acres of tallgrass prairie and oak savanna, the native plant and animal communities existing in central Iowa prior to Euro-American settlement in the 1840’s. –U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
There are more than 200 types of native prairie plants replanted here, collected from nearby Iowan remnants, found along roadsides, near railroad tracks, and in cemeteries.
The project was undertaken with the support and encouragement of former Congressman Neal Smith
Neal Smith sponsored legislation to create the Des Moines River Greenbelt, Red Rock Watershed Conservation District and the Neal E. Smith National Wildlife Refuge, later named in his honor.
This Brown Thrasher was in full scolding mode, along the auto-tour route of the refuge.
The re-introduced Bison came from the National Bison Range in 1996 and the Elk were re-introduced in 1997. 33 other mammals have been sighted on the refuge since 1991, including two Bobcat sightings in 2005 and in 2006.
The Neal Smith NWR hopes to one day have Greater Prairie Chickens, Upland Sandpipers, and many more once-native species as they work hard to increase the biodiversity of the prairie. It will take time but the refuge is already a great place to visit and go birding and most importantly, we are restoring our tallgrass prairie ecosystem.
Neal Smith was full of gorgeous summer blooms.
We saw one Elk around midday, as they are mostly nocturnal. The best time to see them is early in the morning or late in the evening.
