[obol] Willamette Valley larks (& young scrub-jays)

[Joel Geier]

Hi folks,

Responding to Dave Irons' posting, here are some quick observations from
the lark transects that I walked on the NW side of Baskett Slough NWR
recent days.

All 15 or so of the WESTERN MEADOWLARKS that my son Wil and I detected
were within about a 2-mile radius of the south end of Livermore Road.
The majority were in wet prairie restorations or adjoining, moderately-
grazed pastures which had a few singing perches. Three were in an old
field (fallow for at least a couple of years) which had sparse trees
around the edges. One was using a sparsely brushy fenceline along the
edge of a fescue field which bordered an old pasture, and one was in a
vineyard adjoining the foregoing pasture/fallow field habitats.

In other words, none were in a monotonous habitat of grass fields. The
meadowlarks that I found in Linn County (west of Lebanon) while doing
some related point counts in recent weeks were also mainly in places
that had some habitat diversity and structure. The exceptions were some
along Blatchford Rd., which I'm still trying to figure out. One clue
might be that the tall fescue (and I mean really tall!) field that they
were singing from had "wildlife stronghold" signs posted around it.
Perhaps those farmers are among the few who will delay their harvest
long enough to allow successful nesting.

As for STREAKED HORNED LARKS, nearly all 50 of the birds that Wil and I
found were using either perennial grass fields or sweet corn fields that
(from the looks of them) had been planted this spring, and had not yet
grown more than a few inches tall. Exceptions to this rule were (1) a
clover field which also appeared to be a relatively new planting (still
pretty patchy), and several recently tilled fields which the larks were
foraging in, though it appeared that they were flying in and out of
these areas from nearby perennial grass fields that were more patchy
than average.

My hunch is that Horned Larks are doing relatively well in the Livermore
Road area because the type of grass-seed farming there ensures that a
significant fraction of the acreage is newly planted each year (thus
providing foraging areas), and also, perhaps, because the harvest tends
to come a week or two later than in most of Linn County (thus reducing
nest destruction by swathers).

Anyway I consider it a privilege to have seen perhaps 1/20 of the total
world population of Streaked Horned Larks, in the course of a few hours
of walking in recent days.

Happy birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis