How is everyone's spring habitat projects going?

[remy3424]

No burning this year. For me, I transplanted 5 ditch cedars into an existing shelterbelt that had lost them. Also lost 3 fruit trees so I put 4 back in, a peach, 2 cherries and an apricot...everything likes fruit. The fruit frees are all fenced to protect them from deer. Planted about 5.5 acres of grain sorghum food plots and put a dose of Prowl over them...now would really be a good time to have a bit of rain (for the herbicide and the seed). We were getting some rains (much better that the past 2 years), but nothing now for about 10 days, so it is getting a bit dry again. Those spring rains have given everyone a bit of confidence that more will be coming. Would like to get some more soon, probably have a couple weeks before the hatch starts...they will do better dry than wet. Looks to be a good bird carry-over in my area.

 

[gimruis]

We were getting some rains (much better that the past 2 years), but nothing now for about 10 days, so it is getting a bit dry again. Those spring rains have given everyone a bit of confidence that more will be coming. Would like to get some more soon, probably have a couple weeks before the hatch starts...they will do better dry than wet. Looks to be a good bird carry-over in my area.

The rain quit here too now. Those heavy 6+ inch rains about 10 days ago in southern MN completely missed me.

Not a whole lot in the forecast either. I could see us going right back into another drought for the third summer in a row. Not a fan.

 

[Weimdogman]

I am afraid my area is in for another dry year also. Went into winter so dry that all the snow was just absorbed. Little run off to refill ponds and sloughs.

Friend and I broadcast some sweet clover on his ground. Way over seeded but we haven't had the rain to help it out. I am afraid it won't take.

 

[matto]

So I spent yesterday morning and early afternoon inspecting our family ground and looking at the results of some of my habitat work. I bumped both a hen and a quail off their nests, saw another pheasant slinking into someone else's wheat field, and heard quail at a different spot. Here's what I saw in my habitat work:

Of the 40 shrubs I planted in the spring of 2022, right before this nasty drought set in, 4 leafed out this year. 25 of them had some protection from competition from landscape fabric. Only two of those 25 leafed out. The other two that made it were simply planted in spots that didn't have any existing vegetation. I used a moisture-attracting root slurry on all of them. The 40 were a mix of chokecherry and fragrant sumac. All 4 of the survivors are fragrant sumac.

Three different 1-2 acre areas that I am attempting to get back to NWSG all look a little disappointing. 2 of them were seeded in March of 2022, right about when it stopped raining. I attempted to frost seed the 3rd area this past winter--lots of competition from bindweed in this third area. I'm going to give them this year and maybe next before deciding about replanting. I guess the positive side of this is that one of these areas seems to have a nice stand of kochia developing.

I've gained some ground in my war against against a stand black locust. There was a major offensive in March with chainsaws and Tordon that seems to have helped a lot. There will be some on-going low-intensity warfare with basal-bark treatments of Remedy and diesel fuel for many years.

Last fall we disked three strips in some expired CRP grass to set back the grasses and encourage forb growth. I think the lack of rain in winter and early spring caused some die-off of my good grasses. Regardless, 2 of those strips look pretty good as far as forbs go. The third strip has a lot of cheat grass in it. It almost looks like it was planted in rows along the tracks of the disc blades.

My cheat grass pasture needs grazed again next year, and probably several years after that. Rains in the last month have really produced a "nice" crop.

Big parts of Kansas have had decent rains in the last 30 days. While we have had some rains, my stuff is in the areas that weren't so blessed.

 

[Prairie Drifter]

We've been mostly at a complete standstill here. The severe fire danger this spring prevented me from burning anything. I did get 130-160 acres burned by a wildfire that started on the highway and ran 4 miles north in 50 mph winds before running into wheat ground and dying. We spent a good portion of the winter pulling old miserable fence off of the new acres. Have a contractor in now putting up new. I did have a tree cutting contractor in removing elms, locust, Russian Olives, and cedars for over 200 hours using a skid steer and high-speed saw. We cut part of those trees ourselves as well. May finally have a trio of seasonal help coming so we can get gregarious with a number of projects. We did stock cattle late due to the drought and lack of fresh growth. The rain today will help stave off early destocking I hope. Should start building 3 new marshes in the coming months. Also have been draining the lake to rehabilitate the fish population. Fighting siltation right now. Hope we get enough rain to do summer burns. I'm way out of rotation with our burns and we are needing to get back into burns in both the spring and summer seasons.

 

[lonejackfool]

P.D. can you tell more about cattle stocking when the goal is more quail? how many acres of what kind of forage are you grazing? how many grazing days/head? do you have a formula, or is it by what average grazing height you are comfortable with for the time of year and conditions? how many times a year do you allow grazing? is this more than just spring flash grazing? thanks

 

[Prairie Drifter]

Thanks for the questions LJF! There are many ways to graze to benefit bobwhite. In general, if you are favoring the NWSG ecosystem with whatever grazing system you use, you are probably benefitting bobwhite. Pheasants are not as prairie obligate as quail are, so most of their management will be in the cropland acres and the grass can stand to be left a bit heavier.

For bobwhite you need to understand their needs to know what your goals are. They need clump grasses generally to nest in. They also use cactus and some other species, but NWSG clump grasses are preferred. For brood-rearing, you need a strong contingent of forbs. These produce the insects that the chicks rely on for their first 12 weeks of growth and also produce most of the seed food that they will use all fall and winter. Structurally, they need the plant community to have a lot of open space for unimpeded travel at ground level and a herbaceous canopy above to protect them from avian predators. They will need some brush in close proximity to provide escape cover as well as thermal protection from the heat and cold.

As for recommendations for any method of grazing, there isn't enough space on here to cover all the beneficial methods. What I am using now is a Patch Burn/Patch Graze system where I stock at a moderate rate into a pasture that I have divided into at least 8 units where I burn 1 unit in the sprin and another in late summer each year to create a mosaic of different plant successional stages within that 1 pasture. Part of my grass will be best for nesting, part for brood-rearing, and part for refuge. What I am doing here is stocking 50-100 pounds of beef per acre starting in March 1 and running through August. I burn in March and April for the spring burns and in July and August for the summer burns. Cattle feed most (~75%) in the most recent burn unit putting heavy pressure on the grasses until the next burn. This weakens the grasses somewhat and allows the forbs to dominate for a time. When the next unit is burned, the cattle move to it as soon as it greens up, starting the resting phase in the already burned unit. In 4 years (weather permitting) I will have burned and heavy grazed each cell and will be starting over. There are no internal fencing needs. The overgrown units act as a drought grass reserve. I think I will stop here and see if you have more questions after reading this.

Patch Burning: Integrating Fire and Grazing to Promote Heterogeneity - Oklahoma State University

This publication outlines the importance of fire and grazing for native plant communities, wildlife, and livestock.

extension.okstate.edu

https://ksoutdoors.com/KDWP-Info/Locations/Wildlife-Areas/South-Central/Byron-Walker (watch summer burn video)

https://www.quailforever.org/Habitat/Why-Habitat.aspx

Turnin-The-Dirt™ - Quail & Upland Wildlife Federation

Turnin-The-Dirt™ As the old saying goes in Missouri "Show Me"! This "Turnin-the Dirt™" section does just that. Here we show and tell what our chapters and members are up to based on submitted Habitat Reports received at National. By reporting to us what they have done, others can see and better...

quwf.net

 

[remy3424]

The rain quit here too now. Those heavy 6+ inch rains about 10 days ago in southern MN completely missed me.

Not a whole lot in the forecast either. I could see us going right back into another drought for the third summer in a row. Not a fan.

Getting dry here. Had a few shots of rain in the area, but very spread out and not much of anything on our ground. I am optimistic we will get rain to get us through the season.

 

[remy3424]

I am afraid my area is in for another dry year also. Went into winter so dry that all the snow was just absorbed. Little run off to refill ponds and sloughs.

Friend and I broadcast some sweet clover on his ground. Way over seeded but we haven't had the rain to help it out. I am afraid it won't take.

I also seeded down a stretch of clover. I guess now, I hope it lays there until we get some rains.

 

[Golden Hour]

Headed out tomorrow with the wife and kids and hopefully one of their friends. I've got a little less than 200 trees to put in, Eastern Red Cedar to replace and add to the main tree belt and False Indigo down by the slough. My uncle was given a bag of seed corn by a friend and he didn't want or need it, so I'm going to dump some in the space between the slough and the new tree belt.

 

[gimruis]

I am optimistic we will get rain to get us through the season.

I'm not. I had about an inch of rain the entire month of May, and so far June has been bone dry. Stage 2 drought within a week again.

Super annoying that our summers are devoid of even average rainfall now.

 

[Golden Hour]

Got out yesterday and put a couple hundred trees in the ground.

The first pic (don't mind the weirdos in the photo) was taken on June 3rd, 2017. The second pic is from the same spot taken yesterday afternoon. The 3rd pic is my son standing in front of one of the cedars.

All in all we planted 50 Sandbar Willow and 50 False Indigo on the southeast side of the slough. Went to check on the False Indigo I put on the north side last summer and WOW!! That's the fastest I've seen a shrub/tree grow. Especially considering the conservation district "forgot" to put matting in and they had to contend with the weeds. Anyway, that's the last picture with my son and his new love, an exacto knife that cut openings in the matting, countless weeds and nicked his stomach, lol.

My daughter and her friend were helping out, too, but they are way too cool to be in a picture doing some sweaty, dirty work.

 

[lonejackfool]

thanks P.D., that oklahoma state article is good stuff. burn and graze.

 

[remy3424]

Awesome job GH! Is the false indigo for cover, it really looks to grow! Those cedars are going to provide some good shelter in a few more years. That mat material should make much less work to get things started, wish we have county assistance to do that here.

I just can't get my crew too excited about habitat creation, although my son did help out on our big project about 6 years ago, but at this point he doesn't have too much interest in it.

 

[Prairie Drifter]

thanks P.D., that oklahoma state article is good stuff. burn and graze.

I hope you got into the 36 page portion of it. The left orange tab brings that up. It's what I'm using for my fire and grazing regime. Of course I am stocking a bit lighter than the neighbors as I am not only trying to benefit bobwhite but also whitetail, turkey, etc.

 

[Golden Hour]

Awesome job GH! Is the false indigo for cover, it really looks to grow! Those cedars are going to provide some good shelter in a few more years. That mat material should make much less work to get things started, wish we have county assistance to do that here.

I just can't get my crew too excited about habitat creation, although my son did help out on our big project about 6 years ago, but at this point he doesn't have too much interest in it.

Thanks. The False Indigo is a cover shrub, but is also supposed to be a bee and insect magnet. Fingers crossed!

I did pay the kids $10 an hour for their efforts and my son got a bonus for working extra hard, but it's one of those things where I just have to tell the wife, "We're planting trees on Sunday afternoon at 1:00pm." and there's no two ways about it. It's a labor of love, emphasis on labor!

EDIT: One last note on the cedars is even though they aren't big enough to be great habitat, they do become valuable when they are about the size of a five gallon pail, as the pheasants will use them to sun in the winter as the dark branches absorb the sunlight and warm up a small area.

 

[gimruis]

One last note on the cedars is even though they aren't big enough to be great habitat

I thought they looked pretty good size for only being 3 years old.

 

[MI Bird Dog]

I planted switch grass last year and I thought it didn’t come in but I realized this spring that I have patched of it everywhere. It’s not thick but I was excited because I thought I was going to start from scratch. I still have a lot of weeds and am wondering if I should try to mow it to suppress the weeds?

 

[Prairie Drifter]

If you want birds, the weeds are just as important as the grass as long as they are not noxious.

 

[MI Bird Dog]

If you want birds, the weeds are just as important as the grass as long as they are not noxious.

Yeah that’s true but switch grass doesn’t help much if it’s thin and spread out. I’m trying to get about a 1/3 acre of switch. I have plenty of weeds.