There Go the Grassland Birds

This post's title doesn't mean “look at all the grassland birds flying by our birding observation spot.”  It means we are watching them leave Connecticut as their habitat dwindles. 

The widespread decline of many grassland dependent species in Connecticut (as elsewhere) has been well-documented and discussed.  The pattern can be seen as the result of the reverse of the environmental changes that encouraged some of these species in the decades following the various eras of forest clearing (e.g., early agriculture, charcoaling), as forests have reclaimed many of the few open areas that provided suitable habitat.  And, of course, modern development pressure has accelerated the loss of habitat for these (and many other) birds in Connecticut.

Recently, attention has been focused on a few special species that are increasingly threatened in Connecticut by the loss and destruction of habitat, especially by the imminent development of one of the last few nesting sites for Upland Sandpiper and Grasshopper Sparrow, both listed as Endangered Species under Connecticut statutes.  (CGS Chapter 495: Endangered means “in danger of extirpation throughout all or a significant portion of its range within the state and to have no more than five occurrences in the state.”)

The Upland Sandpiper was probably never a common breeder in Connecticut, at least in the Holocene epoch (+/- 10,000 years).  However, Sage et al. (1913) called it "common" in the summer and cited nesting records for “Upland Plover” from Plum Island off New London (probably Plum Island in New York), Winchester, Torrington, and Litchfield, all prior to 1905.  Merriam (1877) called it (“Bartramian Sandpiper”) a common summer resident, but did not cite any other breeding records. The 1982-1986 Connecticut Breeding Bird Atlas (BBA) confirmed breeding at Brainard Airport in Hartford and Bradley Airport in Windsor Locks. Rentschler Field in East Hartford was not surveyed for the Atlas. 

Today, the bird is thought to nest in Connecticut only at Bradley Field in Windsor Locks and Rentschler Field in East Hartford.  And the latter site is the focus of current concern, as further development on the site appears imminent.

Mark Szantyr eloquently defended the habitat threatened by the initial re-development of this site in a letter published in the Hartford Courant in 2000, but recognized the sad reality: “With this outcome as inevitable, I am afraid we are all losing something very important.  You might not recognize it now.  Your children may not recognize it.  But as sure as money and power are king, one generation will look up to see that our reasons for living are gone.  That generation will wonder how they will get through the constant gray drudgery of living in a world without natural wonder." 

Mark’s observations are still timely as current plans for commercial development on the remaining undeveloped areas of the site will wipe out some of the little remaining habitat in Connecticut for Grasshopper Sparrow, Upland Sandpiper, Bobolinks, Meadowlarks, and other grassland dependent species. 

The Connecticut BBA found Grasshopper Sparrows, also now State Endangered, in only eight locations, and confirmed breeding at only two sites, one of which was Bradley Airport.  Sage et al. characterized the species as a “common summer resident, chiefly of the dry upper meadows, but breeding also to the borders of the salt marshes of the coast.”  The species is known to nest at Rentschler Field and at other sites in the upper Connecticut River Valley.  Buzz Devine has been monitoring a nesting population at a Town park in Bristol, where a former gravel quarry is reverting to a shrubby field, with the intention of developing a management plan to maintain suitable habitat. 

                               Grasshopper Sparrow

   
                               Savannah Sparrow

 
Bobolink and Savannah Sparrows are listed as Special Concern species, and although they are not hard to find during breeding season, their habitat of open grass fields continues to decline in Connecticut. Eastern Meadowlark is a Threatened Species (“likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range within the state and to have no more than nine occurrences in the state”) and shares the same habitat, but have become much scarcer in recent years; perhaps this species is more sensitive to habitat decline.  The Connecticut BBA found breeding evidence for Eastern Meadowlark in almost 40% of the study blocks, mostly in the northwest quadrant of the State.  Based on personal observations recently, though, nesting has declined dramatically.

                               Bobolink

                               Eastern Meadowlark

 

Taxes, jobs, community vitality; these are usually the driving forces behind development projects such as that pending for Rentschler Field.  But, really, it’s almost a zero sum game since Connecticut’s population is not growing (and is not expected to in the foreseeable future), and it's not likely that people will move to or even stay in Connecticut just for the chance to work at a Cabellas.  In other words, one town’s gain is likely another town’s loss, and along the way the ecological and environmental costs and the loss of the State’s character are borne by everyone. 

Continued efforts to publicize and address the loss of biodiversity may make a difference, or may only stay the inevitable.  After a career in land use planning and regulation, I've got nothing against responsible growth.  But misguided, misplaced, or irresponsible growth results in more than just a loss of opportunity for birders to see some birds; it really is a loss of the State’s vitality.

In 1877, C. Hart Merriam wrote in his book A Review of the Birds of Connecticut “it is highly probable, so favorably is [Connecticut] situated, that no equal area in the country can boast a greater number of birds than may be found within its limits." Sadly, it's questionable whether future birders and nature lovers will agree.