Name: Bird Walk
Start: 2024-07-20T07:30:00-04:00
End: 2024-07-20T10:00:00-04:00
Location: Talon Winery

Join CKAS for a bird walk at Talon Winery as we look for Henslow's Sparrows and other grassland birds.
Since 2020, CKAS has coordinated a private-public partnership with Talon Winery & Vineyards that may be our chapter 's best conservation win ever. Each year, Talon has allowed us to mark off about five acres of their contracted hayfields and delay mowing, giving the Henslow's Sparrows we'd noticed starting to nest there time to fledge their young. Henslow's are a species of concern in Kentucky and nationally; any help we can give them is critical. During June, the birds will be staking out territory and starting nests; by July and August, adult birds will be singing to defend territory, carrying fecal sacs, and bringing food to their young—all evidence of breeding success—and young juveniles will be chasing each other through the tall grasses. CKAS is grateful for the partnership with Talon that has allowed us to protect acreage for these birds. More on the success of this program here: Protecting Established Henslow's Sparrow Breeding Colonies Through Selective Haying in the KOS Kentucky Warbler (https://birdky.org/pdfs/protecting_established_henslow_breeding.pdf), and How Just a Few Acres of Ideal Habitat Helped Protect Henslow's Sparrows on Audubon in Action (https://www.audubon.org/news/how-just-few-acres-ideal-habitat-helped-protect-henslows-sparrows).
Meet/park at the start of the Tasting Room lot closest to Henslow's field.
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Target Species: Henslow's Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark, American Kestrel, and Bobolink.
Terrain: Easy. Roadways, mowed grasses and fields.
Pace: Average.
Distance: Walking under 1 mile total.
Restrooms: Tasting Room, which does not open until 10:00 am.
TB
photo: K. Buster