Mice with Wings – Georgia Wildlife Blog

By Ethan Hatchett 

On a moist powerline proper of method in southeast Georgia, biologists seek for a tiny brown hen in a tangle of dried, brown grass. It’s like in search of a needle in a haystack. 

Volunteers work to search out Henslow’s sparrows in a survey (Todd Schneider/DNR)

It doesn’t assist that these birds like to remain near the bottom, preferring to run and at all times hesitant to fly, making them much more troublesome to identify. Typically biologists solely glimpse them once they poke their distinctive inexperienced heads above a clump of grass or utter their curt, sharp alarm name.    

It’s comprehensible why Henslow’s sparrows are nicknamed “mice with wings.”

Henslow’s sparrows breed within the northern a part of the japanese U.S., however they winter in pine savannas and related grasslands in southern states, together with Georgia.  

DNR biologist Todd Schneider with a Henslow’s sparrow (Rick Lavender/DNR)

What precisely they do of their southern wintering grounds isn’t effectively understood. Biologists are solely now starting to establish key features of the life historical past of Henslow’s sparrows, corresponding to their most well-liked microhabitat and meals sources.

But like many grassland birds, this species is turning into more and more uncommon due to habitat destruction and degradation. The pine savanna that Henslow’s sparrows relied on in previous winters is disappearing; misplaced to improvement, conversion to cropland and pine plantations, and fireplace suppression. The birds now survive in scattered fragments of habitat and strange areas with related grassland traits, corresponding to powerline rights of method.  

That standing and these components are key to Henslow’s being thought of a excessive precedence species for conservation in Georgia’s State Wildlife Motion Plan. 

This complete conservation technique, which is present process a periodic revision, lists 640 native animal and plant species as priorities for conserving statewide. The 150 conservation actions really helpful within the plan focus restoration and safety efforts the place they’re most wanted and best. 

Fortunately, DNR and others are working to assist the Henslow’s sparrow. Key wintering websites are being restored by means of efforts corresponding to prescribed fireplace.  

A banding research carried out by DNR and Georgia Southern College from 2011 by means of 2021 has supplied useful details about these elusive birds. Utilizing three survey websites, knowledge was collected on annual return charge in addition to bodily measurements like wing size and weight. From 2019 to 2021, Georgia Southern additionally studied the Henslow’s sparrow habitat, surveying for the particular options that assist the hen thrive. Particular person birds have been additionally tracked utilizing radio telemetry to evaluate the scale and space of the wintering grounds. Along with these surveys, biologists from the college have been finding out the contents of the hen’s weight loss plan.  

The plight of Henslow’s sparrows is a reminder of the significance of habitat preservation. This tiny hen could spend most of its time north of Georgia, however adjustments that deplete its southern wintering grounds can put the species in peril. 

Ethan Hatchett is a communications assistant in DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Part. 

High: Henslow’s sparrow in hand (Todd Schneider/ DNR)

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