Researching & Monitoring Grassland Birds
At Mass Audubon, we are working on a number of exciting projects to help declining grassland bird populations, ranging from work on our wildlife sanctuaries, to region wide surveys and projects that focus on a particular species.
Monitoring helps us understand why grassland species are declining by providing us with long-term data about northeastern grassland bird populations.
Through the work of the Breeding Bird Atlas 2 and follow up State of the Birds report (both published in 2013), Mass Audubon was able to get a clear understanding of the condition of grassland birds populations in the Commonwealth.
On a broader scale, Mass Audubon is involved in a region wide survey of grassland bird populations throughout New England. This regional data on grassland bird communities is critical to understanding the severity of declining trends, and in implementing effective management practices to help reverse this decline.
Mass Audubon understands the importance of building partnerships to help declining grassland species at a regional scale. To complete the inventories, we are working with:
- Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife
- Vermont Center for Ecostudies
- Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
- New Hampshire Audubon
- University of Delaware
These partnerships help us spread the word about grassland birds over a larger scale, we are working together to develop outreach programs to help people understand how they can benefit grassland birds.
Mass Audubon is working on several projects that focus on key species including eastern meadowlarks. Read more about our work and keep up to date on specific projects by reading Mass Audubon’s Bird Conservation blog.