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Noah Perlut, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences, recently wrote a guest blog for Shelburne Farms, an agricultural non-profit in Vermont, about his study of grassland birds.

Perlut, who is in his 15th year of research on bobolinks and Savannah sparrows nesting on and around Shelburne Farms, discussed how hay harvesting impacts grassland birds. “We know that the timing and intensity of hay harvest affects these birds’ reproduction and survival (earlier hay harvest, and more frequent harvest=bad news),” he wrote. “But we are lucky to work in a region with creative federal and state agents who want to find lasting solutions to problems.”

Because bobolinks and Savannah sparrows practice natal philaptry (returning to breed where they were born), Perlut and fellow researchers have been able to track genealogies, following bobolink maternal lines through as many as five generations. They hope that being able to share the life-stories of the individual birds on landowners’ plots will help farmers better relate to the birds and, in turn, will make them more willing to consider harvesting practices conducive to grassland bird survival.

“These stories are dramatic and awe-inspiring,” Perlut blogged, “and stories of how far one travels from one’s birthplace and what happens after are stories we can all relate to in our family lives. In sharing the stories, we hope that landowners will be more willing to consider land management practices that balance bird and farmer needs.”