Pennsylvania Game News - June 2024 - 19

" All of these activities contribute
to the vegetation structure these birds
seek, " Bearer said.
Moving forward, the knowledge of
what grassland birds are out there, and
where, will allow for such measures to
be even more targeted and effective.
Karkuff pointed to State Game Lands
60 in Clearfield County as an example
of what could be.
Though Pennsylvania has a large
and motivated birding community,
state game lands - especially large,
remote ones in rural areas that see fewer
people, especially far from roads - are
sometimes overlooked. So no one had
ever done a comprehensive inventory
of grassland birds on State Game
Lands 60. But when crews visited
last summer, they documented for the
first time the presence of singing male
Henslow's sparrows.
Armed with that knowledge, biologists
and land managers can work
together to not only create habitat for
such species, Karkuff said, but return
over time to see how they respond to
various treatments. That might explain
why harriers are absent from some
Pennsylvania grasslands but present in
others, for example.
" That's especially important with the
new threats to large grasslands occurring
today, " he added.
Of course, the amount of land in
private hands far outnumbers that in
public ownership. And unlike game
lands, those don't offer the same kind
of long-term guarantee of protection
for grassland birds, Karkuff said. But
there's hope there, too.
Hawk Mountain runs a Farmland
Raptor Project (hawkmountain.org). Its
goal is to " engage private landowners
to help conserve farmland raptors and
JUNE 2024
BREEDING
BIRD ATLAS
Pennsylvania's third Breeding Bird
Atlas is underway. It's scheduled to run
through 2028.
Game Commission Avian Recovery
Biologist Stefan Karkuff is encouraging
people to participate, especially those who
have a hunting camp in or otherwise spend
time exploring the state's remote places.
" Atlas data is often difficult to obtain
from these areas, " he said. " But even a
single observation of a broad-winged hawk
nesting near your cabin, or a ruffed grouse
flushed while checking game cameras, can
be invaluable data. "
Details on how to get involved are
available at the PA Bird Atlas page on
Facebook or by emailing PABirdAtlas@
hawkmountain.org.
to learn more about these birds and
their distribution. " Landowners are also
encouraged to " improve or enhance
suitable habitat to help boost numbers
of these important grassland species. "
There's proof that such an approach
can help.
Brown said that, when the Second
Breeding Bird Atlas was conducted,
many of the places with nesting northern
harriers had similar habitat
to
private lands enrolled in CREP, the
Conservation Reserve Enhancement
Program. It's a federally-funded program
that pays farmers to remove
sensitive land from crop production for
the sake of native plants and wildlife.
Participation is voluntary. Those
19
http://www.hawkmountain.org
Pennsylvania Game News - June 2024

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