Keyword: Ooms

Protecting Grassland Birds

May 17, 2013 | Posted in CLC, Headline | Keywords: birds, easements, Ooms, pca

Bobolink – Photo by Andrea Westmoreland

The Bobolinks have returned to Columbia County! Starting in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s a 6,000 mile flight. It’s a spectacular bird with a bubbling song and unique plumage. The male bobolink is the only North American bird that is black underneath and white on the back. After breeding, his plumage changes into a muted and camouflaged appearance.

Over the last thirty years, bobolinks – as well as other grassland birds such as savannah sparrows, grasshopper sparrows, and Eastern meadowlarks – have significantly decreased due to loss of farmland and intensification of certain agricultural practices. Yet, we still have sizable populations and during the warmer months many grassland birds call Columbia County home and take advantage of the numerous meadows and agricultural lands. CONTINUE READING

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Ooms Trail Work

April 26, 2013 | Posted in CLC, Headline | Keywords: Ooms, pca, photos, volunteer

Darrow School students, faculty and alumni joined CLC staff for trail work at the Ooms Conservation Area at Sutherland Pond. We bench cut 1/8 mile of the green trail using hand tools. This volunteer project was an Earth Day celebration and part of the Darrow School’s Hands to Work program.

Following up on the great work from Darrow School volunteers, two seniors from Ichabod Crane School volunteered at the Ooms Conservation Area and made additional improvements to the Green Trail.

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OSI Transfers Greenport and Ooms to CLC

February 20, 2013 | Posted in CLC, Headline | Keywords: greenport, Ooms, pca

The Open Space Institute (OSI) has transferred ownership of the Greenport Conservation Area and Ooms Conservation Area at Sutherland Pond to the Columbia Land Conservancy (CLC). CLC has been managing the two properties for public access and habitat conservation and will continue to do so now, as the owner.
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Great Backyard Bird Count

February 19, 2013 | Posted in CLC, Headline | Keywords: birds, Ooms, photos

Photos by Andreas Stresemann

On Saturday, February 17, 20 citizen scientists took part in CLC’s Great Backyard Bird Count at Ooms Conservation Area at Sutherland Pond. The final tally: 52 birds from 17 different species!

The star of the show was the brown creeper, a tiny very-well camouflaged bird that spends most of its time spiraling up tree trunks in search of insects. Because of its specialized anatomy, the brown creeper rarely climbs down a tree, but rather flies down to begin a new ascent at the base of a nearby tree.
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Managing Hayfields to Support Grassland Birds

June 1, 2012 | Posted in Land Matters, Publication | Keywords: birds, farm, greenport, Ooms, pca

by Peter Paden
Published June 1, 2012 in the Register-Star

It’s been a beautiful Spring. Lots of sunshine; lots of rain. The first sprouts of newly planted corn and soy beans are peeking up above the soil in neatly planted rows. And the first cutting of luscious green hay is being harvested.

Over the years at about this time we hear from people who are avid bird lovers, concerned about this early mowing cycle. They call or write expressing consternation that the fields at the Ooms Conservation Area at Sutherland Pond, on Rock City Road in Old Chatham, one of the best loved properties we manage for public access and enjoyment, are being mowed. Are we not aware that these fields are important breeding grounds for bobolink and other bird species that depend for their survival on grassland habitat? How could we, a conservation organization, allow such a thing to take place? CONTINUE READING

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Baby Birds

May 17, 2012 | Posted in CLC, Headline, Nature | Keywords: Ooms, photos, video

Young red-winged black birds at Ooms Conservation Area at Sutherland Pond. The video was taken a week after the photos and captures how quickly nestlings grow.