John Felton has led the way for community education about the nesting Bobolinks at the McAllister Wildlife Refuge . On July 13th John and Greg Ward led a great group of interested folks on a Guided Bird Walk at the refuge. Folks learned about the life history of this migrating grassland species. and caught great sightings of the well camouflaged females, and dapperly plumaged males! Bobolinks are a species of ground nesting blackbirds. We learned that boblinks spend most of the year in South American, as far south as Argentina. Each Spring they migrate to the northern United States and southern Canada where they build nests and raise their young. A number of Red-winged Blackbirds where also sighted. Song sparrows thrive in grasslands, too! Common Yellowthroat warblers were also in abundance, as were goldfinches! Dog walkers were especially courteous, keeping dogs on leash and well out of the grassland areas. Our next step will be to permanently install education bobolink signage along the roadside at the McAllister Wildlife Refuge. When next you visit the McAllister Wildlife preserve, see if you to can catch sight of bobolinks! They will be with us till mid August, and then will be flocking up for migration. Photos Courtesy of Buck Deggendorf, Sharon Siter and Christine Ward
