Thanks for sharing your bike and other data for Halifax. I participated in the NC Bird Atlas in both Halifax and Northampton Counties and will be curious to see what the analysis shows. In Northampton County more parts of US 158 is 4 laned so that will have an impact. I noticed pairs of Shrike near Jackson and Scotland Neck. There also seemed to be pairs of Horned Larks foraging in cotton fields and using the strips of nearby land. Also logged patches for paper pulp looked promising. What cutting cycle do you think would be best for cover crops and grassland species?Loren Hintz
From Loren Hintz Chapel Hill, NC
On Wednesday, August 19, 2026 at 06:00:37 AM EDT, <carolinabirds-request...> <carolinabirds-request...> wrote:
carolinabirds Digest Wed, 19 Aug 2026
Table of contents:
1. Horned larks affected by farming practices - Frank Enders
<fkenders...>
2. First kestrel of fall AUgust 16-18-? - Frank Enders <fkenders...>
3. Loggerhead Shrike sightings way down this summer. - Frank Enders
<fkenders...>
This spring I biked several times along Ridgecrest Road going west from Hedgepeth Road in Halifax County, NC in the early morning.
I was interested how and if the Horned Larks here can get a brood off between various farming operations applied with various crops.No surprise that larks were not present where a good rye cover crop existed. The 3-4 locations for larks were those mowed down or shortgrass. The one pastured area may have too many grazers to protect either Horned Lark or meadowlark enough to breed successfully.Seems a shame that bird have to depend on farmers who fail to take good care of their land (as by using cover crops).
The larks seem to have a very iffy existence, needing "wastelands", or lands with less than optimal cropping practices (here most land is in cotton or peanuts or soybeans).
A later morning I may have seen but one Horned Lark. The presence of multiple meadowlarks, specifically in two locations where row crops were not even planted, and/or somebody chose to mow maybe 4 acres, was unexpected, but underlines the incompatibility of the most profitable use cropping open land with "wildlife" , I am not sure I see bird golfers setting aside needed habitats. Clearly it will take lots of money to set land aside, and management by "wildlifers" seems pitifully inadequate.
Horned larks have managed to persist here for 44 years. But, where do they exist I summer when none can be found within several miles (what with the growth of "weeds" in untended land and crops too tall in well-tended land?
(Had a knee problem which prevented getting out more to try to follow the larks.)
Frank Enders, Halifax, NC I do not have time for e-mail. Nor, I think, do you. Try calling 252-308-3443---good luck with that. I had noticed a sighting of a kestrel in S.C. On the CBC website (from ebird). Then I saw a female kestrel on August 16 along Ridgecrest Road west of Hedgepeth Road. For decades now the first kestrels appear here around August 15. Presumably the same bird was seen by me today, August 18, 2026.
Frank Enders
Frank Enders, Halifax, NC
I do not have time for e-mail. Nor, I think, do you. Try calling 252-308-3443---good luck with that. I would be willing to bet next spring and summer will have many fewer locations with shrikes present. Let me say only 20% of sites will be occupied. I could be wrong.But, within about 10 miles I usually have 8-12 sites occupied (by at least one bird, the probability of seeing a bird at a site where the species is continuing during the breeding season is maybe 10%). The birds might be out at the edge of woodlands rather than on powerlines along roads where easy to notice.
At the moment there are only 2-3 spots where I have noticed a shrike in the last two to four weeks. It might be nice if I could figure out what times of day and weather are associated with me seeing a shrike along the road. Don't know if I have time and gas to do that, the shrikes not likely to be seen during rainstorms, nor early nor late in the day.
I'm thinking the drought may have knocked back the population.
There are a few sightings of shrikes northeast of me, around Little Texas In Virginia (Sussex County). And a string of shrike sightings down NC33 over the years even down to the gas stations north of Greenville, NC These are just birds which happen to be where I have need to drive for various purposes. I keep waiting to stumble upon some noticeable change in shrike populations/sightings, but no such luck.
I think this last breeding season may show a big dent in shrike sightings for the coming year or two.
Had I a smartphone, I might put sightings into eBird, but just writing down all the birds I see would be quite a burden.
It would help if Hotmail and gmail would stop randomly erasing some of my overlong emails.
Frank Enders
Frank Enders, Halifax, NC
I do not have time for e-mail. Nor, I think, do you. Try calling 252-308-3443---good luck with that.End of carolinabirds Digest Wed, 19 Aug 2026
