Bobolinks: Our most dressed up songbird!
Article by Julia Shewan, B.Sc, RPBio, Conservation Programs Assistant, CVWMA
Hey everyone! Now that we are all covered in snow and layered up from the cold, let’s get warm by casting our memory back to the summer! Did you know we have bobolinks in the valley? If you aren’t familiar with this striking songbird, please have a look at your field guide or any other source you prefer. While it’s hard to miss the showy male, catching the drab females and telling her apart from other common grassland birds can be quite a challenge. A suitable quest for CVWMA staff who have been monitoring the species in the Duck Lake area over the past two years.
We’ve been really happy with our results thus far. We found between four and five males and nearly as many females on surveys completed in 2022 and saw several fledglings in early August, so it was suspected that there was at least one successful breeding attempt made in 2022. In 2023, we found up to five males and eight females using our survey area across the breeding season and counted at least 15 fledglings around the middle of July. These counts suggest that multiple breeding attempts were made in 2023 and many of them could have been successful, as bobolinks typically raise around three fledglings per breeding attempt. We were not able to get really precise counts given that we tended to move individuals around simply by completing the surveys and thus it was hard to keep track of who is who. As I’ve already mentioned, it is hard to see the drab females who look similar to the very common savannah sparrow, albeit she’s a bit bigger, buffier, and has a different beak profile. Not only that, telling female and fledgling bobolink apart is a real challenge too as they are nearly identical, and at the time when fledglings emerge, males start molting into non-breeding plumage that is also very similar to that of a female. All these aspects certainly kept us on our toes! We will keep up on this monitoring in the coming years, as we are interested in understanding how this sensitive species, currently listed as Threatened in Canada under the Species at Risk Act, is doing on the CVWMA.
Fun fact! Bobolinks are not a monogamous species; both the female and male may seek out multiple partners across the breeding season. As such, there may be multiple parentages within a single clutch laid by a female. As both the male and female help feed young, it means more work for dad who regularly helps provision for offspring in his primary nest and often times those in his secondary nest. What a truly unique species!
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