Birds and the Vikings Stadium

Below is the text of an email I sent today to the Chair, Executive Director and Director of Communications for the Metropolitan Sports Facility Authority regarding the proposed use of special glass that will greatly reduce the incidence of birds striking this glass-heavy, spectacular new stadium located along a key North American bird migration path, the Mississippi flyway. More information on this topic, and contact information for key decision-makers, is available here:

• Birdchick blog (Sharon Stiteler): One step closer to fixing the Vikings stadium
• MinnPost article: Minneapolis City Council calls for bird-safe Vikings Stadium
• Star Tribune columnist Jim Williams: New Vikings stadium -- bird-killing zone (and other recent posts)
• National Audubon Society: New Minnesota Vikings Stadium Threatens Minnesota's Birds
• Official Audubon petition: Change Glass, Save Birds

And I'd like to follow that last article's title with the comment that because such a major flyway is involved, this is decidedly NOT just a threat to Minnesota's birds. Birds that use the Mississippi flyway during migration may very well be coming from or returning to other states in the U.S., Canada, the Arctic, Mexico, Central America and/or South America. State boundaries have very little relevance here. These are the Western Hemisphere's birds.

My email:

With great concern, as a birder, nature blogger, Minnesota Master Naturalist volunteer, conservationist and long-time Minnesota resident, I most strongly urge you to act to protect birds from the foreseeable effects of such a large glass structure located so close to the Mississippi flyway. 

As a strategic communications professional (at Neuger Communications Group, where I am a vice president and senior communications counselor), I also urge you to take this step. It will be truly a shame if this beautiful, world-class, publicly supported facility is forever tainted in the minds of many game and event attendees, and many more who will not be in a position to attend, as a bird-killer. 

The pledge to adjust lighting when possible during key migration periods is important, and to be applauded. The choice also to use bird-friendlier glass is one that can still be made, and now is the time to make it -- for good public relations, and because it is the right thing to do for the survival of the beings with whom we share this continent. 

Please, please, find the funds and make this happen.

(Note: This post was amended August 7 to add the link to the Audubon petition to the Vikings.)

Koester Prairie Dedication - with Henslow's Sparrow

This morning I was so happy to attend the dedication ceremony for the Koester Prairie site near Dennison in Rice County, Minnesota, as part of the new Prairie Creek Wildlife Management Area. This 460-acre tract of native prairie/grassland and dry hill oak savanna, grazed but never plowed, has been in the Koester family since the 1940s. They've cared for it as wonderful stewards of the the treasure it is -- "one of the largest expanses of grassland remaining in the region," according to the Trust for Public Land's Prairie Creek WMA web page.

After a nearly five-year process working with the Minnesota DNR, the Trust for Public Land, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Cannon River Watershed Partnership, and other groups and individual advocates, at last the land was purchased by the Trust for Public Land and transferred to the DNR, which will manage the land. Today's dedication ceremony represents the culmination of this lengthy process, ensuring the Koester family's dream that Koester Prairie will be maintained for future generations to enjoy as a source of inspiration and renewal, as I believe family spokesman Craig Koester put it in his moving remarks this morning.

Henslow's Sparrow

The rare Henslow's sparrow, decreasing in recent decades largely due to habitat loss, and listed as endangered in Minnesota, is resident here in the summer. The Henslow's sparrow prefers a large expanse of grassland, so you're not going to find it in just any old grassy field. And one thing I've learned as a birder is that when a bird prefers a certain habitat, that's exactly where you'll find it, and most likely not somewhere else. I spent about 20 minutes this morning with not another human soul in sight, watching this bird calling on its territory. Like clockwork, about every five seconds, it lifted its head to sing its quick, two-syllable, metallic-sounding song: "tsi-lick"!

Henslow's Sparrow singing

At Koester Prairie, if you climb the rise from the road and go down the other side, you are in almost a grass bowl, surrounded on three sides by a grassy expanse that climbs to the horizon. It's a wonderful setting for creatures like the Henslow's that are uncomfortable near large trees or human-made structures. Restoration work continues on the site, including control of buckthorn, wild parsnip, and Queen Anne's lace. The bird seen in the photos above was making good use of a buckthorn sapling today, though: With winds picking up, it was the sturdiest perch around.

I think it's very important to be aware that funding for this important conservation land purchase, and others like it, comes from the Outdoor Heritage Fund (one of the funds created by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment passed by Minnesota voters in 2008) as recommended by the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, as well as from the Critical Habitat license plate program (more formally called the Reinvest in Minnesota -- RIM -- Critical Habitat Program).

Koester family members gather for a photo

Dedication attendees climb the hill for a prairie tour

More information about the Koester land's history and its notable wildlife and plant offerings is available here:

• Minnesota DNR news release, Jan. 6, 2014
• Pioneer Press / twincities.com article by Dave Orrick, Jan. 7, 2014
• Friends of Prairie Creek Wildlife Management Area website
• Trust for Public Land website's Prairie Creek WMA page

Dan Tallman recently posted some great photos of a Henslow's sparrow in Carleton College's Cowling Arboretum, where it has been regularly heard and seen on the restored prairie there. (I was pleased to be able to find it for a Carleton reunion group I accompanied on a bird walk last weekend.) His post discusses the population decline and notes the importance of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in its recent partial recovery.

CRP land itself is now in decline due to competing economic incentives, as I mentioned in my recent post, Musings on Grass and Economics. Thus, it is all the more important to support and facilitate land acquisitions like the one we celebrated today.

Musings on Grass and Economics

Dave and I attended the wonderful Potholes and Prairie Birding Festival in Carrington, North Dakota, June 11-15, and then headed south and farther west to Pierre, South Dakota, and the Missouri River to do more birding on our own. I'll post separately about some of the great birds and other sights we saw. But first, I feel impelled to write about grass. Grass -- and economics.

Prairie and pothole country, central North Dakota

I've written before about our vanishing grasslands (for example, the fact that only two percent of the original, pre-European-settlement tall-grass prairie in Minnesota remains, in fragmented and isolated pockets) and the profound effect the loss of that habitat is having on grassland birds like bobolinks, meadowlarks, and many others. With that consciousness firmly in mind, this trip was both elating and sobering.

Site where we saw a Sprague's Pipit "skylarking"

It was exhilarating and reassuring to see that miles upon miles of empty, rolling grasslands do still exist in some places -- to look around and breathe the clean air and see almost nothing but prairie and sky in every direction.

A never-cultivated prairie area on "school land" in North Dakota

So it was elating, but it was also sobering. That's because although much remains in some areas, grasslands are being converted to croplands at a pace not seen for decades. Record prices of corn and other commodities are leading many landowners to take land out of grazing or out of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Almost everywhere we went, we could see what we were told by our guides were newly cultivated and planted fields.

Abandoned houses are a common site in the Northern Plains

Once sprayed and cultivated, even if the land is eventually turned back to a more natural state, and despite any restoration efforts (helpful though they can be), it will never have the rich mix of native plants that once existed. A prairie plowed is a prairie lost. If one believes that the current demand for corn-based ethanol will be a short-lived phenemenon, as many do, it's particularly painful to think of these lands being converted for short-term gain, and their original inherent habitat and grazing value not regained in probably many lifetimes.

American White Pelicans in flight in prairie-pothole region, North Dakota

Grazing is another traditional economic use for grasslands, of course. We heard from our birding guides and workshop instructors -- including prairie expert Stephen R. Jones -- that grazing (ideally by migrating bison, but also acceptably by well-managed cattle herds)  is essential for the maintenance of healthy grasslands, as is fire. Without these controls, invasive species move in and you get an inevitable progression of the grassland ecosystem toward more shrubs and trees. 

Grass and sky, North Dakota

Grass-fed beef and bison are increasingly popular food choices these days, which is an encouraging development for the future of grasslands. However, we also heard from knowledgeable people that in the modern era it's just plain easier to be a crop farmer than a rancher. When you ranch, you are responsible for the well-being of the animals year-round, while crop farmers can go to Florida in the wintertime if they like. And in the Dakotas, some winter respite is quite naturally welcomed by many.

Bison above the Missouri River near Pierre, S.D.

So it's evident that economic benefit is a hugely important consideration in how land is used or set aside. We can't just wring our hands and wish people would nobly leave the grasslands unplowed. People who live in this important ecosystem still need to support their families and aspire to a decent quality of life. Economic incentives -- whether in the form of new or different subsidies, and/or the creation of new land conservancies, and/or the sale of conservation easements, and/or rising demand for grass-fed beef and bison, or other incentives -- will be an essential consideration in saving these lands, if they're to be saved. It's an issue I'll continue to follow closely. And I hope to return many times to this beautiful region.

High country near Pierre, S.D.

Bobolinks and Our Vanishing Grasslands

Male bobolink, McKnight Prairie, Goodhue County

The bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) is one of my husband Dave's favorite birds. Whenever we are in suitable habitat  -- grasslands -- his ears and eyes are open for them, and it's usually the ears that find them first. Bobolinks have a rich, varied, burbling, sometimes buzzing song. David Sibley, in his Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, describes it as "a bubbling, jangling, rising warble with short notes on wide pitch range." Roger Tory Peterson, in his Eastern Birds field guide, describes it as "ecstatic and bubbling, starting with low reedy notes and rollicking upward." Several samples of bobolink song can be heard here.

The Dennis Rodman of birds: Male bobolink, Rice County 

The male bobolink in breeding plumage is the only American bird that is black underneath and has white on its back (not just its wings). The straw-colored patch on the back of the head, which often looks thick and furry (but not always, as can be seen in the photo below), is usually the first thing I spot that tells me that I am seeing a bobolink. The female and the nonbreeding male are drabber and buffy in color. The bobolink is one of the Icterids (Icteridae), the songbird family that also includes the New World orioles, meadowlarks, blackbirds, cowbirds, and grackles. Its diet consists of seeds and insects.

Male bobolink, Rice County near New Prague

As grassland habitat has been lost, the populations of grassland-dependent birds, mammals and insects have dwindled. Meadowlarks and bobolinks are among the grassland birds that are harder to find than they once were. Bobolinks have the additional threat of being shot as agricultural pests in their wintering grounds thousands of miles to our south in central South America. Earlier hay mowing than in earlier times also threatens their reproduction; they nest on the ground in tall grass, so they are vulnerable when that grass is cut before the young birds leave the nest.

In Minnesota, less than two percent of the original (pre-European settlement) 18 million acres of native prairie, which covered one-third of the state, remains. What has been lost has been converted to row-crop agriculture and other human uses. The little that remains is scant and patchy, rather than forming large contiguous areas that provide the best habitat for those that depend on it. The enormity of this loss is displayed in this map from the Minnesota DNR, showing in yellow and tan the native prairie distribution in the second half of the 19th century, with the surviving remnants shown in red. It makes me want to weep.

This map can be seen on page 7 of the Minnesota Prairie Conservation Plan, published in 2011 by the Minnesota Prairie Plan Working Group, which included members from the Minnesota DNR, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nature Conservancy and other interested organizations. Click on the image above to see a larger version, and follow the text link above to learn more about a vision for prairie and grassland habitat acquisition, restoration and enhancement in Minnesota. 

The future of creatures like the bobolink depends on our doing what we can to preserve and restore the grassland habitat that is part of our great natural heritage.

Here are some additional resources:

• http://mn.audubon.org/guide-urban-bird-conservation/grasslands-including-prairie
• http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snas/prairie_description.html
• http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2013/02/satellite-study-documents-vast-loss-midwest-grasslands

Addendum: After posting this, I came across a blog post called Where Are the Bobolinks, published only yesterday on the excellent birding blog One Jackdaw Birding. I recommend it.