The Meadow

This meadow is the oldest known continuously-managed meadow in New York State, an open area of 16 acres, exposed to warm, bright, direct sunlight from every direction. It is defined by tall grasses, wildflowers, and a few small trees and bushes. From the trail along the edge of the field, you can see the many paths through the grasses made by creatures of all sizes, from the largest deer to the smallest mouse. Many different animals crisscross the field and flatten the grasses under their feet, searching for food. This meadow has to be mowed every year to prevent the trees from seeding and the seedlings growing back into forest. Mowing is done in spring, precisely before the eastern cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus) give birth to their young and the protected eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) is on the move.

This meadow is a perfect example of a living food web. The many native grasses and flowers attract pollinators: insects such as caterpillars and the common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens), and carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica), a couple of the over 4,000 native bee species. Other meadow visitors are wasps, like the eastern yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons). Also butterflies like the monarch (Danaus plexippus) and the isabella tiger moth (Pyrrharctia isabella). Different bird species, like the northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), tufted titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor), black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapilla), mourning dove (Zenaida macroura), blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata), American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos), and northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) all come to eat the seeds, berries, and insects found here. In turn, these creatures attract predators, like falcons (genus Falco), hawks (family Accipitridae) and owls (order Strigiformes) which prey on small birds and small mammals.

In Spring Many Birds Return from their Winter Homes in the South

In spring, barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) and other swallows (Hirundinidae), highly adapted aerial feeders, fly above the meadow with their beaks open to scoop up a myriad of flying insects, hatched from the plants below. Above the meadow during the day, raptors like red tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus), and sharp-shinned hawks (Accipter striatus) fly over watching for the movement of small prey. Small eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis), which roost well camouflaged in trees during the day, come out at dusk to feed on moths and other nighttime flying insects. Mostly asleep during the day, barred owls (Strix varia) and barn owls (Tyto alba) fly over at night, listening for the rustle of small mammals.

This meadow, with its abundant seeds and insects, is an essential source of food for many different species of bird in autumn. Migratory warblers (Parulidae), like the American yellow warbler (Setophaga petechia), swallows (Hirundinidae) like the tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), and vireos (Vireonidae), like the yellow-throated vireo (Vireo flavifrons), fly thousands of miles south to avoid the cold winter.

In this meadow these migratory birds find a place to rest and eat additional food before they make their long-distance flight. It is essential for these birds to build up their strength, so that they have the endurance needed to successfully make the long and very strenuous flight to reach their winter homes in South America and other parts of the southern hemisphere. Raptors, among many other birds, also pass through here on their fall migration south.

This is where many monarch butterflies (Danus plexippus) gather to prepare for their fall migration. They fly over two months and cover about three thousand miles to reach the oyamel firs (Abies religiosa) in the mountains of central Mexico, where they will hibernate for four months. While they make this journey in one generation, it takes some four generations to return. As adults, monarch butterflies feed in the meadow on the nectar of an abundant, and nutritious, variety of native wildflowers during the day. As the sun goes down they roost in the trees, wings closed and camouflaged. But, the only plant they lay their eggs on is milkweed, which is the only food their larvae can eat.