Fireworks postponed after birds discovered
The July Fourth fireworks in Amesbury have been postponed until Labor Day weekend after endangered bobolink birds were discovered nesting in the area designated for the pyrotechnic display, officials said.
William Donohue, a city spokesperson, said Wednesday that the Amesbury Days Committee, the private group that operates and funds the fireworks, had decided on the postponement.
“As the city was prepared to mow the location where the fireworks take place, nesting birds were observed,” Donohue said in an e-mail.
“The city worked closely with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife to ensure the protection of endangered Bobolinks and other species nesting in Woodsom Farm.”
Two sections were approved for mowing, Donohue said. “However, the size of these areas were determined by public safety to be too small to accommodate the crowds that frequently attend this event,” he said. “The Amesbury Days Committee has since decided to move the date to Labor Day weekend.”
When they’re not foiling fireworks, bobolinks have inspired bards, according to the American Bird Conservancy.
“The bubbling song of the bobolink, which has inspired poets from Emily Dickinson to William Cullen Bryant, ushers in spring across grasslands of the northern United States and southern Canada,” the conservancy says on its website.
And it’s got distinctive plumage.
“Unlike less-conspicuous grassland breeders such as the Eastern meadowlark or grasshopper sparrow, the male bobolink, with his flashy black-andwhite breeding plumage, seems to be wearing a ‘backwards tuxedo,’” the site says. “No other North American songbird is black underneath and white on the back.”
Bobolinks can be found in southern Canada and various parts of the US, according to the site.
“The bobolink breeds in native grasslands and agricultural fields across southern Canada and in the United States from eastern Washington and Oregon through the upper Midwest, to the northeastern states,” the conservancy site says. “Nesting occurs as far south as central Kansas, northern Kentucky, and the Appalachian foothills of West Virginia and Virginia.”