The Bobolink is a grassland species that nests on the ground - so far, so good, but it fledges it’s young just after the time that farmers like to cut their fields for hay, meaning that when they move in with their heavy machinery then nests on the ground get minced. Unsurprisingly, this is a species that is in trouble.
Asking farmers to postpone the first hay cut until fear Bobolinks have fledged sometimes works but too often the landowners will tel you that time is money and they have no option. Well, of course, they have options but choose to ignore them.
And I fear the risk to field-nesting birds will get worse as the climate warms. I understand that the line that separates fields with twin annual harvests of hay from those with single harvests moves northward with every increase in annual temperature. For example, in China, over the pst 50 years, the potential northern limit of double-cropping has moved 150 km northward.
I have been thinking about this problem of saving the Bobolinks from thrashers and other farming equipment. Two ideas have come to mind. One is to train dogs to locate the Bobolink nests. Dogs can be trained to fetch ducks for hunters after they are shot, and for many other uses. In some cases they are trained to sit when they discover whatever is being sought. For this they get a reward. The second idea is more modern and perhaps the farmers themselves could do. It is to use drones to monitor the fields. I could see a modest business develop by someone to provide either of these services. Perhaps one of the birding societies could provide guidance on what is to be done when the nest is located.