RE: [Maine-birds] Bobolinks

I feel obligated to point out that farmers are not doing 'early haying' out of ignorance.  If you wait 2 mo to harvest hay it is not terribly edible and nutritional quality goes down.  Good for big bale cow hay only.  If you happen to be selling to private buyers for horses or small farm livestock most people want second cut because the animals do not want to eat stemmy hay and much is wasted.  Most farmers have already got a cut in by now.  Additionally, milk prices are still hovering at $13-15 a hundredwt ( was in the mid 20's last year), and any animal feed you can grow yourself is going to save a great deal of money.  I'm not sure what the solution is - the govt does pay farmers to leave fields fallow or delay haying but it is not necessarily enough to make it worthwhile.  More hedgerows, preserved land and less urban sprawl?  There are Bobolinks nesting in an open field up the road from me - have been there for years - the fields are now for sale for house lots.


Sarah

---

From: tpackie@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2016 06:52:27 -0400
Subject: Re: [Maine-birds] Bobolinks
To: geoffives@gmail.com
CC: maine-birds@googlegroups.com; jillmcm1970@yahoo.com

I think we have lost the bobolinks at the Stone Barn Farm on MDI due to early haying as well. We thought we saw a few birds earlier but nothing recently. I blame the ignorance of modern farmers on their disconnection with nature's life cycles.No meadowlark either. T

On Fri, Jun 3, 2016 at 8:51 PM, Geoffrey Ives <geoffives@gmail.com> wrote:

I beg the hay guy to wait until July 15th. I'm glad to hear there are more elsewhere. We've lost the Meadow Lark and the Whip-Poor-Will. Life's not the same.

On Friday, June 3, 2016 at 7:46:20 PM UTC-4, Julia Hanauer wrote:

I'm so glad. Enjoy them.
 They hayed early last year and my sense is we are missing a couple (dawn chorus is not as loud). But I don't have any real data. I'm worried they will hay early again this year.

On Fri, Jun 3, 2016 at 7:36 PM, 'Jill' via Maine birds <maine...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

They must all be here in Pittsfield - we have dozens of displaying males, when we normally have a fraction of that amount.

> On Jun 2, 2016, at 8:35 PM, Geoffrey Ives <geof...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> As usual we have multiple nesting pairs of bobolinks however, I'm pretty sure the counts are low. Last year they were higher - I counted up to 12 males at one time. This year the most I've seen at once are 4. Worried.
>
> --
> Maine birds mailing list
> maine...@googlegroups.com
> http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
> https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maine birds" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to maine-birds...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Maine birds mailing list
maine...@googlegroups.com
http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maine birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to maine-birds...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Maine birds mailing list
maine-birds@googlegroups.com
http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maine birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to maine-birds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Maine birds mailing list
maine-birds@googlegroups.com
http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maine birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to maine-birds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.