Ground-Nesting Birds 2024
GNB 2024 Subpages:
List of all GNB
American Woodcock | Black & White Warbler
Common Nighthawk | Dark Eyed Junco
Dark-eyed Junco near East Pine Island Pond on April 15, 2023
Click on image to view video by Joshua Barss-Dunham and hear it sing
INTRO (Apr 1, 2024)
Spring is in the air… and underfoot
That’s right, we said “underfoot” and we’re not talking about a budding crocus…
Have you noticed the birds have started to sing? These ‘early birds’ are staking out their territories and hoping to attract a mate. Soon, eggs will be laid in carefully hidden nests all over the Backlands, but not all these nests are in trees.
Several of our most familiar (and threatened!) birds nest right on the ground where eggs and young are very vulnerable to being eaten or trampled. In fact, the success rate of these nests is quite low. Many of these birds make several attempts to raise young, from early spring into the fall.
Help give our hard working feathered friends a hand, by keeping our feet and our pets on the trail. A simple step (pun intended!) that will give them the best chance possible to raise the next generation of songsters.
Over the next few months, we will be sharing profiles of four ground-nesting bird species found in the Backlands. (See full List of ground-nesting species.) Wondering what a ground nest looks like? When you might spot a nestling? What they eat? Where they will go in the winter?
Stay tuned to find out!
– The Ground-Nesting Bird Group:
Joshua Barss Donham, Ilona Inman, Fulton Lavender, Cathy Smalley, Katharine Studholme
Page posted by David P 1Apr2023