Hi, Angus, The first breeding bird atlas showed quite a few areas in Steuben County. On the second, I only found one colony which was on Wade Hill Road, near Jasper. I couldn't see any of the birds, but thought that I could hear about nine singing males. Some time after the second Breeding Bird Atlas somone, I think from downstate, was interested in finding Henslow's sparrow and visited sites in Steuben County where Matt Victoria had found them during his statewide grassland survey for Audubon New York. This person found some on Learn Road in the Town of Rathbone, Steuben County. Shortly after that someone with property on Learn Road donated their property to the Chemung Valley Audubon Society. We have done a couple of field trips there in late May, but haven't rediscovered them. I suspect that they were in the field across the road from the CVAS property.
In case anyone wants to check the area out, the property is at the corner of Learn Road and South Road. South Road is not on the Delorme maps for some reason. The CVAS property is behind the historic Northrup Hill Schoolhouse. The east end of Learn Road, by the way, is in Tracy Creek State Forest. A walk along Tracy Creek Road is a nice addition to the trip. We were able to hear Louisiana Waterthrush and Winter Wren there and also found an active hummingbird nest on our trip this year. Bill Ostrander Chemung Valley Audubon Society _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Angus Wilson Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 12:38 PM To: NYSBIRDS-L Subject: [nysbirds-l] Status of Henslow's Sparrow in NYS Bulletin board postings are naturally slanted to positive news and don't do such a good job recording disappearances, either of particular individuals (is the Hooded Crow still being seen?) or of populations. The recent discovery of two Henslow's Sparrows in a field near Ames (Montgomery Co.) got me thinking: are these are the only sightings for New York State this season? Looking at eBird (a better resource for this type of question) says no, but only just. Evidently, small numbers (the entries are for 1 bird each) are still present in Fort Drum and the nearby Perch River WMA (Jefferson Co.) and a little to the north in St. Lawrence County. But according to eBird, that's it. I suspect official surveys will have come up with a few more at these sites but still. Have other traditional breeding sites in western and central NYS been checked and found negative? Is total extirpation as a breeding species imminent? At what point should Henslow's Sparrow be added to the NYSARC review list? Heady questions. It would give me peace of mind to know if other breeding sites still exist. Precise locations are not necessary, just enough to know whether or not the breeding population in now confined to a relatively small area in the St. Lawrence Transition. Unfortunately I don't have the The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State (McGowan and Corwin 2008) at hand but I am sure this indispensable resource for state birds has much to say on this troubling topic. In 1999, the DEC reclassified the sparrow as Threatened (from Species of Special Concern) but my sense is that the decline has continued unchecked. -- Angus Wilson New York City & The Springs, NY, USA http://birdingtotheend.blogspot.com/ -- NYSbirds-L List Info: <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Archive <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html> Please submit your observations to <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> eBird! -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
