Iowa's pasture and hay ground, when managed appropriately, provides ideal habitat to mimic the historical expanses of grasslands that once covered the state. Wildlife species have different needs when it comes to grasslands, but generally they all benefit from diverse stands of native prairie vegetation that are not disturbed during their primary nesting season from May to early July.
Here's a few pointers and resources on ways to promote quality wildlife habitat in your pasture or hay ground.
Delay mowing to July 15th wherever possible, and ideally until August 1st. This allows sufficient time for birds to hatch their nests and for other young critters, like deer fawns, to be mobile enough to escape equipment in the fields.
When mowing earlier in the year consider these recommendations:
Mow slowly and look ahead for wildlife that are slow to get away.
Avoid mowing in the dark when birds are most likely to be on the nest and least likely to flush.
Use a flushing bar (a bar in front of the mower, as wide as the deck, with dangling chains to encourage things to flush).
Start cuttings from the middle of the field out, leaving some cover for wildlife along the field margins near woodlots, fence rows, or other natural areas.
Promote diversity in grazed systems
An ideal grazed system for wildlife is rich in plant species diversity as well as diversity of management treatments, like grazing, haying, and prescribed fire. Native warm season grasses like big bluestem, switchgrass and Indiangrass are generally more favorable for wildlife in grazed systems and can provide a strong forage base. The article Warm Season Grasses for Hay and Pasture describes common warm season grasses used for hay and pasture. The University of Wisconsin has a nice article about creating bird habitat in rotational grazing systems. Learn more about the multiple benefits of prairies on farms in the article titled Incoporating Prairies in Multifunctional Landscapes. The Pasture Management Guide for Livestock Producers booklet published by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach details additional approaches to create wildlife habitat in pasture systems, as well as resources for protecting and enhancing water quality in a production system.
Employ prescribed fire to promote diversity and forage quality
In February of 2018, wildlife biologists and veterinarians investigated the suspicious death of 32 trumpeter swans in a Clinton County wetland. What befell these icons of conservation in Iowa puzzled investigators, but in the end there was evidence to suggest that the toxic properties of lead the birds had accidentally ingested played at least an intervening role in their sudden death. Although trumpeter swan populations have been and continue to grow in Iowa, the sudden and unnatural death of those 32 swans, and other more isolated cases of lead poisoning deaths among other waterbirds, scavenging birds, and birds of prey across Iowa, has prompted interest in finding ways to reduce exposure and curtail these unnatural deaths...
To continue reading this article on the Acreage Living Newsletter, click here.
I have seen a wide gamut of responses to the question posed in the title of this post. While preparing for my Ph.D. candidacy exams, I was asked a version of this question as it related to ducks and agonized over the response for months (you’ll see elements of my answer below). In another extreme, I recently posed the same question at a meeting and received an enthusiastic, unequivocating answer of, “corn fields.” I’ll spare you the details of why it is that Iowa’s 13.2 million acres of corn are almost certainly not a limiting feature for ducks, but suffice it to say that my mental picture of habitat for ducks (wetlands) was starkly different from this respondent’s own mental image (corn fields). Same word. Same question. Drastically different responses....
To continue reading this article on the Iowa Learning Farms blog, click here.
Liberty is at the heart of the American experiment: that fundamental concept that says the will of the majority should not supersede the rights of individuals. Emerging from this pillar however is a fundamental question: to what extent can one actor infringe on the rights of another? This question is central to private land stewardship....
To continue reading this article on the Iowa Learning Farms blog, click here.
In keeping with a theme from my last blog titled “What the heck is habitat”, this month I explore another critical question within the language of conservation. What’s a wetland?
Wildlife biologists like me adopt a broad definition of a wetland because so too do the wetland-dependent wildlife we study. We find often that a migrating flock of Greater Yellowlegs in August are apathetic whether a wet spot in a crop field has drainage infrastructure underneath it. And that a nesting pair of Soras care little about the motivation or permits behind the construction of a water-treatment wetland in town. To wildlife, and thus to a wildlife biologist like me, what makes a wetland is how it functions. And to describe that critical wetland function we need to consider two factors: water and plants....
To continue reading this article on the Conservation Learning Group blog, click here.
Learn how to design a backyard oasis for birds by providing essential habitat elements including food, shelter, and water. This publication discusses key considerations for incorporating bird habitat needs into landscape designs by laying out plants that provide shelter or food in a way that mimics the natural habitats of birds. The publication also discusses bird feeding and how to safely attract more birds into view in the backyard by providing the right types of food throughout the year.
This publication updates PM 1351D.
No matter where you’re sheltered-in-place, nature is everywhere. A front row seat to the dramas of nature can pass the time in any season, but springtime is unrivaled. As you and your loved ones pass the time at home, take this chance to take in the sights, sounds, and smells of your own outdoor amphitheater.
The happy red-tailed hawk couple.
Iowans and citizens of the world are today united against a common enemy in a way perhaps never seen on such a scale. Our duties are assigned and clear: if you work in an essential service industry, stay healthy and continue to safely work. If you don’t, be thankful for those that do and stay home. And for all of us, regardless of the character of our work, free time spent at home is our best way to fight this disease and help our friends and neighbors.
So it is that now, idle time away from family, friends, and hobbies has become a symptom needing a cure. For many that cure has come through the salvation of the internet. FaceTime or Skype calls with friends and family. Zoom meetings with coworkers. Endless scrolling through an entirely new genre of quarantine-memes and Facebook posts. And of course hours spent on all variety of streaming services enjoying movies and TV series. During our universal call to inaction in free time we also all share one common subscription: a front row seat to the dramas of Iowa’s outdoors in spring.
As a wildlife biologist and long-time-nature-addict, I of course have had my antennas tuned to the unfolding drama at my house. Here’s a succinct accounting of the most remarkable shows playing around my house in Ames:
The cedar waxwings are migrating and fueling their migration with the leftover fruit of my neighbor’s crabapple trees. Everyday dozens of waxwings are there aggressively stripping the fruits from their stems as they communicate their satisfaction with the menu through their nearly inaudible high-pitched squeals.
A red tail hawk pair is back for the third year to nest high in a crotch of a neighbor’s white pine. I’ve seen a member of the pair regularly flying into the nest with a stick in their mouth to build up the to be birthing suite turned nursery turned teenager’s room where they’ll raise their young until they can fly.
The blooms of my neighbor’s red maple were alive with pollinating insects the other day. I didn’t get close enough to see who was who, but they seemed enthusiastic to find an often hard to-find nectar resource this early. More pollinating insects will emerge soon, including queen bees of many of Iowa’s over 300 bee species, and they too will be looking for hard-to-find nectar in my yard and others.
The chickadees, a familiar sight throughout winter in my yard, have changed their behavior and tune too. Winter flocks have morphed to spring pairs, navigating the branches of the redbuds out my front door together looking for a few more insects that tried to endure the winter in hiding on the branch or a few seeds they hid on the branch earlier this year. Each pair is eyeing the boxes I have out in my yard, weighing their pros and-cons against natural holes in trees they’ve surely found in heights I can’t see. Soon they too, like the red tail will be carrying nesting material to the spot they choose. I am selfishly hoping it’s one I’ve offered.
One of dozens of cedar waxwings enjoying the fruit of a neighbor's tree during migration.
These are just a few of the hundreds of mini dramas playing out in my neighborhood every day. The cast of characters in my backyard tells the most astute readers something about its natural features, just as the drama of any other back yard, downtown stoop, or rural back forty can paint a picture of those sites. In each of those places, nature’s shows are playing and don’t require bandwidth nor subscription. In the city, the mourning doves are nesting and so too are the pigeons and European starlings. In fact, on your next run to essential work or the grocery store, look closely at the street lights and stoplight poles – if there’s a hole in one of them, you’re sure to see a European Starling carrying nesting material in to a nest, just like the chickadee does in the wooded boxes and natural holes in my neighborhood. If you welcome each new day of quarantine on a rural acreage, the cast there is different but equally compelling. Perhaps a red fox pair has welcomed a litter of kits to the world. Or, if there are trees, the male turkey greats the rising sun each morning from his branch well off the ground with a bellowing gobble that echoes through the woods declaring his intent to find the company of a hen soon.
The dramas of spring are just in their first act. Soon, there will be the songs from a whole cadre of birds that escaped Iowa’s winters in the mountains and plains of southern and central America, back to assume their nesting places in Iowa’s cities and farms. Among them, Iowa’s “other blue bird” the Indigo bunting, will add a splash of blue to many backyards, shooting between perches to project its unique song with rhythmic paired notes always coming in twos. The breeding frogs of small puddles, ditches, and wetlands have turned up the volume in many backyards: the chorus frogs go first and then the deafening shrill of spring peepers follow. The flowers will soon come on strong and with them the bees. The trees will leaf-out soon to feed the caterpillars and then the caterpillars will feed the next generation of birds. The bats have just started to resume their night-time flights for insects. Soon the chimney swifts and nighthawks – a common sight in cities of all sizes – will join them for a nightly performance that runs well into summer grilling season and steamy August nights.
All these performances play out under our noses, wherever we live, free for the taking for all of those with the time to slow down and take it all in. In these times of uncertainty and loss, the perfectly average return of spring is a welcome sense of normalcy. If you, like me, long for these spring days and the daily shifting soundtrack of the morning chorus of bird song, or the evening chorus of frogs, then this escape to nature is a reminder of how we, just like the birds and bees and bats and blooms, will endure this too. If you’re new to this show, welcome to the audience; grab a seat in your own backyard, hug your loved ones, and tune in. It’s about to get really good.
To participate in the live webinars, shortly before 12:00 pm: Click here, or type this web address into your internet browser: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/364284172
Or, join from a dial-in phone line: 1-312-626-6799 or 1-646-876-9923 and use meeting ID: 364 284 172
Iowa Learning Farms, in partnership with the Iowa Nutrient Research Center and Conservation Learning Group, is hosting a free virtual field day on Thursday, May 14 at 1 p.m. The event will include video footage from a local riparian forest area and live interaction with Billy Beck, assistant professor and extension forestry specialist at Iowa State University, and Adam Janke, assistant professor and extension wildlife specialist at Iowa State. Read more about Virtual Field Day: Riparian Forests and Wildlife Habitat
The causes of the declines in bats – forest habitat loss and an exotic deadly disease called White Nose Syndrome – will be the focus of a webinar series hosted by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach this May. Along with information critical to preserving bat populations and their habitats, participants who attend and complete a post-session evaluation of the webinar will be given a redemption code for a free shipment of 25 tree seedlings from the State Forest Nursery to plant the bat habitat of the future. Read more about Forest Management for Bats Webinar
Delay mowing to July 15th wherever possible, and ideally until August 1st. This allows sufficient time for birds to hatch their nests and for other young critters, like deer fawns, to be mobile enough to escape equipment in the fields. 
