Hovering over the grasslands
ing before weaving an open cup of grass and stems lined with fur, feathers, or soft plant fibers. Here she will lay up to five eggs that she incubates, but unlike slacker male meadowlarks, her mate helps with caring for the nestlings. Even in the Reserve, horned lark nests are at risk when crop fields are plowed, tilled, or planted.
You probably think of sandpipers as denizens of the beach or shore. It is the lucky Reserve visitor indeed who sees a sandpiper with a much different life history, the upland sandpiper. These dove-sized birds can be spotted occasionally in hay or alfalfa fields during their spring and fall migrations.
Upland sandpipers nest from Pennsylvania and New York north into Canada and west to Alaska, making a twice-yearly migration to and from their wintering grounds in the pampas regions of South America— logging up to 12,000 miles round trip. While most of this migration takes place over the Great Plains, some of the northeastern birds pass through Maryland, where they need tall grass or meadows teeming with grasshoppers, crickets, and other arthropods to refuel them during the long trip. While they once nested regularly in Maryland, upland sandpipers are now considered a very rare breeding bird here.
A typical“ uppie” sighting is a long neck, short bill, and large eyes periscoping up from the knee-high fields. Occasionally, upland sandpipers will land on fence posts or telephone poles to scout for predators; they characteristically hold their wings high above their back after landing for a few seconds before settling down. Even less common outside their nesting grounds is the male’ s courtship call, a long, mellow“ wolf-whistle” reminiscent of loons or wolves.
Unlike meadowlarks and horned larks, populations of upland sandpipers seem to be holding steady or even slightly increasing, possibly because hunting is no longer permitted.( They were once a popular game bird, credited with increasing amatory prowess of men who consumed them.) But they are still an uncommon sight in Montgomery County.
All three of these iconic grassland birds need special care to thrive even in the Reserve to preserve the mix of grassy habitats each prefers. But each rewards us for this care with a view back through the brief window in Maryland history between forests and suburbs.
Rick Borchelt is a science, garden, and natural history writer; field naturalist; and lifelong birder who explores nature regularly in rural Maryland. Reach him with questions about this column at rborchelt @ gmail. com.
Hovering over the grasslands
Not all grassland birds live in the grass. But they depend on it nonetheless.
Take the American kestrel. Often inaccurately called a“ sparrowhawk,” its diet instead consists mostly of large insects( grasshoppers, cicadas, beetles, crickets), frogs, lizards, small rodents( voles and field mice), and shrews.
Nor is it a hawk. The kestrel is actually America’ s smallest falcon, more closely related to the larger peregrine falcons than to soaring hawks.
Kestrels are often seen hovering steadily over a patch of grassland at a height of about 20-30 feet, spotting their prey in the grass below and diving to capture it. Their ability to hover in the wind while maintaining a constant position with respect to the ground has earned them nicknames like“ windhover” and“ windfrolicker.” They are just as often found perched on utility wires or fence posts surveying likely prey habitat, however.
One of the kestrel’ s superpowers is the ability to see ultraviolet light. Mice and voles dribble urine along their grassy pathways, which leaves a tell-tale UV signature that the kestrel can follow to its furry source.
While the kestrel is America’ s most common falcon, its numbers are dropping precipitously. One prime suspect for the decline is that kestrels don’ t build nests; rather, they are hole nesters and usually use abandoned or appropriated cavities excavated by woodpeckers. This requires grasslands adjacent to mature woodland where there are snags and hollow limbs to be had, and it’ s this combination of factors that is hard to reproduce. Conservationists are hoping to
PHOTO: Kshanti Greene reverse the downward population trend in part by
Female kestrel feeding her nestlings at an erecting purpose-built nest boxes on telephone poles along rural roads. artificial nest box.
plenty I spring 2026 15