Chiara Cocelli, Moorestown Friends School
Burlington County.
Bobolink. Burlington County. Chiara Cocelli
Bobolink
(Flap, flap).
Oh hi there! I am a bobolink, or as the scientists call me, the Dolichonyx oryzivorous. I was just on my way to get some bugs and grass weed for my chicks. A little while ago we landed where I could lay my eggs. My chicks have just hatched and they eat most of the day, so I am out a lot.
Bobolinks live in meadows with long dried grass. We usually find those places on farms. We are very important to the environment and farmers. Farmers in the northern United States love us! We help keep the insect population down by eating the bugs. We also help prevent the bugs from spreading diseases. Farmers also appreciate our eating the weeds in their gardens. Unfortunately, the farmers in the south hate us because we eat their rice. They call us "the rice enemy."
The bobolink population used to be very high, but lately it has been declining. Many people have been buying farms and making meadows for us to live in. Unfortunately, they often let the meadows turn back into forests. We can not live in forests! If you buy a farm, we bobolinks will think it is a home for us. If you let it turn back into forest land we bobolinks that are living there won't know where to go.
Sorry, I have to go. My children are calling and they sound hungry. Good-bye!
(Flap, flap).
Chiara Cocelli
Moorestown Friends School
Moorestown, NJ
Ms. Bear