by Greg Butcher
April 2012
In December of last year, I took a new position as the Migratory Species Coordinator for Forest Service International Programs. I love my new job because I am asked to promote programs and partnerships for conservation.
One of the best aspects of my job is that I get to partner with Saving Birds Thru Habitat in a brand new way. I know that the Bobolink is the organization’s logo, and that SBTH is doing a lot of work to improve Michigan habitats for Bobolinks. We partner with the organization by supporting the Southern Cone Grassland Alliance in South America because that alliance is working to save the habitat where the Bobolink spends the nonbreeding season—in Argentina and Paraguay.
We all know that Bobolinks are losing breeding habitat in Michigan because there just aren’t that many native grasslands left—and the hayfields they have moved to are often cut too frequently to allow for successful reproduction.
But Bobolinks face problems on the wintering grounds as well. The Pampas and other native grasslands in Argentina and Paraguay are being replaced by tree plantations and soybean fields. The Grasslands Alliance is working with landowners to improve the profitability of traditional grass-fed beef in order to resist the loss of traditional pastures to more intensive uses.
By working on both the breeding grounds and the wintering grounds, we have a chance to save the Bobolink throughout its range—although we will have to be on the lookout for problems during migration as well.
In my previous jobs, I focused mostly on birds, but now I get to work on other migratory species as well. Monarch butterflies breed in the United States and Canada—including in Michigan—and winter in California and Mexico. To preserve the Monarch and its migration, we need to work in all three countries. We have a Monarch Joint Venture to help do just that.
What I didn’t realize before I started my job was that some species of dragonflies migrate too. To address them, we started a Migratory Dragonfly Partnership. One of the first projects of the partnership will be Dragonfly Pond Watch, a volunteer-based program to investigate the annual movements of two major migratory dragonfly species in North America: common green darner and black saddlebags.
By visiting the same wetland or pond site on a regular basis, participants will be able to note the arrival of migrant dragonflies moving south in the fall or north in the spring, as well as record when the first resident adults of these species emerge in the spring. To learn more about how to participate, visit www.xerces.org/dragonfly-migration/pondwatch.
Greg Butcher is past Director of Bird Conservation for National Audubon.