Chautauqua County certainly has an abundance of old farm fields, but we should be hearing more Field Sparrows (Spizella pusilla), and other grassland birds, singing in the fields and other open areas across our region. The prairie habitat that once covered our landscape is long gone, but old, overgrown fields and hay fields provide a decent substitute for grassland birds. Even though their substitute habitat provides most of what these animals need, management practices can be challenges for them. Timing the mowing of these fields is important to protect nesting birds, and cutting in early autumn provides ample opportunity for their nests and young to survive and safely fledge during the summer. Save time, money, and birds by cutting old fields in the fall!
The ‘Meet Your Neighbours’ global biodiversity project is a worldwide photographic initiative dedicated to reconnecting people with the wildlife on their own doorsteps (wherever on the planet this doorstep happens to be) – and enriching their lives in the process. The animals and plants found in our immediate vicinity are vital to people: they represent the first, and for some, the only contact with wild nature we have.
