Bachman's Sparrow Carving 112, part 2

In my recent post about my Brown-headed Nuthatch carving I wrote about how I was inspired to plant Longleaf Pines, Pinus palustris, after reading about the habitats of Florida. This pinewood were vast and seemingly endless at the time, but now, they are scattered and remnant patches. Longleaf Pine used to cover 90,000,000 acres, from Virginia to Florida, and over to Texas, now less than 5% of this habitat remains. The Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Bachman's Sparrow, were three signature birds of this habitat.

A few years ago, while flipping through the pages of my Sibley's Guides to Birds, I was looking for resident birds of Florida, that I have not seen yet. One that caught my eye was the Bachman's Sparrow. I had never seen one, or heard one, and after looking up the sightings on eBird, I learned that this bird was spotted recently down the road from my parents house. This got me thinking that if I made a suitable habitat for this bird maybe I could get them to return. My parents have 5 acres, and about half of it is Slash Pine/Palmetto habitat. There was a section, close to the pond, that I adopted to by my "prairie" and I would work on it to make an open pine forest with native grasses and wildflowers. The first and most important step was to remove all the non-native, invasive plants (Brazilian Pepper, Japanese Climbing Fern, non-native grasses such as Bahia and Cogon). Once these plants were removed native plants started to fill back in naturally, such as Coreopsis, Sundews, Bladderworts, Skullcaps, Polygala, Bog-Buttons to name a few!).  I also planted more native wildflowers and ferns, including the Hooded Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia minor, that was once found at a sight down the road, but the sight was destroyed by mining. Most recently I planted native blueberries, shiny fetter bush, Liatris, and three Longleaf Pines. Even though a few years have gone by, I still have not seen any Bachman's Sparrows here at my parents house. I think there just isn't enough suitable habitat, and my small prairie can not support them, though it does get visited by many other birds. It is an ongoing work in progress...

Bachman's Sparrow carving with a Hooded Pitcher Plant, 

in my restored pine land habitat.

Bachman's Sparrow carving among some wildflowers:

Hypericum, Scutellaria, Sarracenia minor, Polygala. I've recorded 60 species 

of native plants in just this few hundred square feet. 

Bachman's Sparrow carving with a newly planted Longleaf Pine, Pinus palustris, and to the left a Slender Gayfeather, aka Blazingstar, Liatris gracilis. Both plants were bought from Sweetbay Nursery, in Parrish, Florida.