Species-Specific Management (SSM)

Lark Sparrow

The lark sparrow, Chondestes grammacus, is a grassland and "rough-area" bird decreasing in numbers at about 60% per year (1996 data). It is a large, beautifully-marked sparrow needing special attention. It winters in the Gulf states.

In the past few decades the bird, with other grassland birds, has decreased with dramatic shifts in agricultural land use. Small grain crops have been exchanged for row crops, there are larger farm fields, larger farms, more insecticides are used, herbicides are used to control row-crop weeds, and hay fields and pastures are intensively used. Counterintuitively, it has decreased with pasture improvement.

The lark sparrow is worthy of special concentrated, species-specific efforts at management. It is among the most challenging of sparrows for management, particially because what is known of needed conditions is difficult to secure. This is a bird that needs short grasses, probably only possible with carefully allocated grazing (as it may have gotten under intense bison grazing in olden times). These needs also include:

1. 25 acres (at least) of "grassland" (usually viewed as "poor pasture" having the following:
2. short vegetation and grass (5-6 inches)
3. boulders (as on hillside pastures)
4. gravel pits
5. patches of bare ground (30%)
6. posts or shrubs (for singing males)
7. sandy soil

Nests are under grass clumps, occasionally 1-2 feet off the ground in dense brambles. Key food of young is caterpillars.

In areas where the sparrow has been found I would engage in the following system:

1. Inventory and map the area, 25 but preferably 200 acres, with an aerial photo to establish a baseline condition.
2. Attempt to achieve 3 - 10 such areas in a large area where there are different ownerships (to stabilize management if one or more change their land-use policy).
3. Conduct regular weekend visits; build a local group with bird watching interest. Use a disked and smoothed "trail" as open/bare ground for the bird and to make the walk more pleasant for bird watchers of all ages.
4. Fence a small area 10 x 10 yards at the approximate center of each 3 acres. These are ungrazed and dense vegetation areas. One or more posts may be for singing males.
5. Fence off (solar electric fence) nests where found to protect them from grazing animals (including deer).
6. On flat areas, plow or disk on the contour small patches to secure bare ground. Rotate these so that they are cleared rarely more than every 4 years.
7. Develop a fence system to allow weekly movement of cattle or goats to secure good coverage but low height of grassland.
8. Whether they relate to rock conditions or plants that persist there in intensively used pastures I do not know. I imagine it is related to rocks themselves and associated spiders etc. and ease of the large bird "scratching" for food. In areas with few rocks I would place 1 - 2 truck-loads of large "rubble." I would also try 1 - 2 truck-loads of pea-size gravel spread by truck (as along a road) on the contour in a pasture. In high clay areas I would do the same with sand "streaks" in the field.
9. Mow with a high brush-hog random pathways through the area with the idea of almost complete coverage of accessible areas once every 10 years. I wouldd avoid mowing in the peak of the nesting season.
10. Remove domestic cats.
11. Pay careful attention to avian, snake, and skunk predation and limit it. I'd remove tall hawk-perches, retain short singing-male posts or trees.
12. Create a blind or a "hide" near singing and nest sites and encourage photograhers.
13. Keep a record of change in birds, bird watcher hours, and successful bird watcher hours.
14. Experiment with 1-acre prescribed burns in some areas. I think the same benefits can be gained by mowing and grazing with less risk of wild fire and smoke pollution.
15. Use herbicide on select trees and clumps of vegetation, mostly to get about 50% of the area in a variety of grasses.
16. Keep a journal, share one copy with another interested person (at least for safe keeping), trying to suggest to future workers what I tried and observed so that improvements can be made later.

This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision January 17, 2000.