I see lots of haying this week, they must have waved the nesting season requirement.
current list:
All of MN is in a stage of drought too. This has been the driest and warmest start to a summer that I can ever recall and I have lived here 28 years.NW IA is very dry, worse than last year, so I can see this happening.
I saw a brood of chicks Saturday. They had to have hatched in the road ditch, they were a long ways from any other cover.Maybe it came out of the program, could the FSA office tell you if you gave them the section and location, if it is enrolled? Guessing they will fail to find humor in this if it is actually still enrolled.
I haven't seen any chicks yet or hatched nest sites. Hot and dry describes our June so far...much like August.
We are willing to let you have half the rain drowning the East Coast right now. Iowa was terrible last year, it took us a day or two to realize how dry and modify our hunting plans to include creeks and rivers nearby as there were no birds anywhere else. Hope you get some relief soonTerrible timing to open this now. Guessing many nests haven't hatched, which those hens might try again (assuming they get off the nest before the sickle comes). As low as they cut when haying, this will likely be fatal to the chicks too. Was really hoping this wouldn't be the case again this year. We won't be haying /grazing any of ours's but I have 2 other blocks of CRP that I hunt which one was grazed and the other hayed last season...assuming they will do this again. NW IA is very dry, worse than last year, so I can see this happening. Looks like 32 Iowa counties on the list, mine and all the surrounding ones. So dry here, our town just put lawn water restrictions in place to conserve water