{"id":516,"date":"2012-09-28T17:28:52","date_gmt":"2012-09-28T21:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hnpnc.com\/site\/?p=516"},"modified":"2014-02-15T18:18:45","modified_gmt":"2014-02-15T22:18:45","slug":"bobolinks-and-forks-of-the-credit-provincial-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hnpnc.com\/site\/bobolinks-and-forks-of-the-credit-provincial-park","title":{"rendered":"Bobolinks and Forks of the Credit Provincial Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

In mid-July I watched a flock of bobolinks at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park. They were gathering prior to their incredible 10 000 km journey back to the pampas of Argentina.<\/p>\n

\"Male<\/a>
Male Bobolink<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bobolinks of Forks of the Credit Provincial Park are good news for a species in sharp decline in Ontario and beyond.<\/p>\n

Breeding Bird Survey data indicate an alarming 52% drop in Ontario\u2019s bobolink population over the last fifteen years. In part this is because of their penchant for nesting in hayfields – hayfields that are often cut in June when bobolink young are still in their nests.<\/p>\n

At the Forks bobolinks needn\u2019t worry about whirring blades. But alas, even here, the future of bobolinks may be in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

Forks of the Credit Provincial Park is gradually returning to its primeval state \u2013 forest. Ash, maple and choke cherry are reclaiming the meadowlands cleared by intrepid farmers long ago. Left alone, trees will prevail and the bobolinks will be gone.<\/p>\n

Bobolinks though, are only one patch in the quilt of the glorious grassland ecosystem that exists at the Forks. Many other birds such as meadowlarks and a wealth of sparrow species including savannah, grasshopper and clay-colored will disappear as the trees return. And the extensive milkweed stands will vanish along with their famous patron, the monarch butterfly.<\/p>\n

\"Forks<\/a>
Forks of the Credit in Fall (photo by Fiona A. Reid)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Park officials here (and I\u2019m sure in other jurisdictions in Eastern North America) face difficult choices in the management of former agricultural lands in their care.<\/p>\n

Should they honour the natural inclination of the land and allow trees to return along with the birds, animals and wildflowers that depend on them? Or should they intervene and kill the trees to save grassland and the myriad species it supports?<\/p>\n

We need to start a conversation about the future of the grasslands at the Forks and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

This story appeared originally in Notes from the Wild<\/strong> at inthehills.ca\/blogs<\/em><\/p>\n

by Don Scallen<\/span>
\nVice-President, Halton\/North Peel Naturalist Club<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In mid-July I watched a flock of bobolinks at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park. They were gathering prior to their incredible 10 000 km journey back to the pampas of Argentina. The bobolinks of Forks of the Credit Provincial Park are good news for a species in sharp decline in Ontario and beyond. Breeding … Continue reading Bobolinks and Forks of the Credit Provincial Park<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[56,9],"tags":[107,77,68],"class_list":["post-516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scallen-author","category-birding","tag-birding","tag-conservation-2","tag-scallen"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4gne2-8k","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnpnc.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnpnc.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnpnc.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnpnc.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnpnc.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/hnpnc.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":805,"href":"https:\/\/hnpnc.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516\/revisions\/805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnpnc.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnpnc.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnpnc.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}