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Ground-nesting birds gain habitat along a state parkwayIt took one person just two days to convert 41 acres of scrub-shrub vegetation to meadow along New York's Lake Ontario State Parkway. The simple clearing activity by the New York State Department of Transportation re-established open meadow for such ground-nesting birds as bobolink, meadowlark, and the threatened upland sandpiper and Henslow's sparrow. The Department also revised mowing schedules in the new meadow areas to mow only after September 1st (the end of the nesting season). At another location along the parkway, Department crews selectively thinned 2.5 acres of non-native vegetation, replacing it with native fruit- and nut-bearing trees and shrubs. These plantings will provide food and shelter for migrating birds on the Lake Ontario migration route and wintering birds like the cedar waxwing and the endangered loggerhead shrike (a non-game bird that feeds on insects and small mammals).
Amy Kahn, (585) 272-4825 or akahn@dot.state.ny.us
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