SCOTT SHALAWAY Wet spring is a boon to birds

Though almost everyone is tired of the wet spring we've had this year, there is a silver lining to the clouds that have darkened the spring skies. Abundant rainfall, delivered in mostly gentle to moderate showers, has triggered a lush growth of grasses in hayfield and pastures. And because the grass never completely dries out, farmers have delayed their early spring mowing. Though this hurts the spring hay crop, it's a boon to birds that nest in hayfields.
In an "average" year, my neighbors would have cut their first hay weeks ago. But thanks to the wet spring, fields of tall lush grasses wave gracefully even in the gentlest breeze.
Catch a break
Though I suspect the wet conditions frustrate farmers, grassland birds may catch a break this year. In a more typical year, that early harvest of hay destroys countless nests of meadowlarks, bobolinks, and other native grassland species such as grasshopper, savannah, Henslow's, and vesper sparrows. This year they may get off a successful brood before the sickle cuts.
That would be terrific news because grassland nesting habitat in the East is in short supply, and much of it is cut before a brood can be raised. In fact, populations of eastern grassland birds are declining at an alarming rate.
Despite the weather this spring, I find myself smiling when I see fields of tall grass in the middle of June. Just a few more days and most young will have fledged.
Though grassland sparrows are typically inconspicuous and require some effort to see and/or hear and bobolinks are seldom seen in nearby hayfields, I can see and hear eastern meadowlarks every day. The nearest population is on a farm about a mile from my house.
Description
Chunky, long-billed birds whose cryptically colored streaky brown backs contrasts vividly with a bright yellow breast marked by a black "V" on the chest, meadowlarks are the easiest grassland birds to recognize. From fence posts, perched males throw their heads up in a clear whistled song: "Spring is here!" And in flight meadowlarks alternate fits of rapid wing beats with glides on stiffly set wings. Their white outer tail feathers are usually obvious.
In the western half of the continent, western meadowlarks replace their eastern counterparts. Though visually identical to the casual observer, meadowlarks are easily distinguished by sound, a lesson I learned vividly 11 years ago on a trip to South Dakota. On the western edge of the Central Time Zone in late June, twilight lingered until about 10:30 p.m. We had arrived at Sitting Bull's burial site across the Missouri River from Mobridge at sunset. An evening chorus of western meadowlarks echoed all around. Having heard the eastern species just days earlier, it was a wonderful opportunity to distinguish two confusing species.
Amazing ability
What amazes me most about meadowlarks is their ability to appear and disappear. When male meadowlark wants to be seen and heard to attract a female or discourage a competitor, it faces its audience. Its song is inescapable, and its golden front marked by the bold chest patch is detectable even with the unaided eye. But if a hawk approaches or other danger threatens, meadowlarks simply stop singing and turn around. Suddenly they are undetectable. The streaky brown back blends in perfectly with the grasses in the background. When it drops to the ground, it seems to have vanished from the face of the earth.
But it is at ground level that meadowlarks nest. The female alone works for four to eight days weaving a cup in a shallow depression in the soil and then adds an arching roof so the nest is invisible even from above. The females incubate three to five eggs for about two weeks. The male defends the nest and helps gather food for the nestlings, which leave the nest at 10 to 12 days of age.
Farmers frustrated by their inability to cut an early crop of hay might be consoled by the meadowlark diet. Though they eat mostly seeds and berries in the winter, meadowlarks' warm weather diet consists mostly of insects: crickets, grasshoppers, caterpillars, cutworms, and grubs. Meadowlarks are among farmers' best friends.
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