Wildlife Habitat on Your Property. What is Habitat? Food. Food. Shelter/Cover. Shelter/Cover 02/19/2018. Varies by species

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1 Wildlife Habitat on Your Property What is Habitat? Varies by species Jennifer Kleitch Wildlife Division February 15, 2018 The components: Food Water Shelter/Cover Space Food Dietary requirements determine preferred food Food availability varies Seasonally By Location Food Classification of food Preferred Staple Emergency Stuffers Shelter/Cover Protection from Adverse Weather (winter or thermal cover) Predators (screening or escape cover) 3-Dimentional Horizontal Vertical Aerial Shelter/Cover Examples of cover Nesting cover Roosting cover Screening or escape cover Brood-rearing cover Fawning or calving cover Loafing cover Thermal or winter cover Travel corridors 1

2 Water Sources Creeks Ponds Lakes, etc. Required for Digestion Metabolism Temperature regulation Removal of waste Space and Home Range Space is needed to Obtain sufficient food/water/cover Move about Avoid or escape potential predators Locate a mate Rest The amount of space required (home range) depends on quantity and quality of other habitat components present Juxtaposition Habitat Requirements Food Cover Water Space Wildlife requirements for food, cover, and water vary according to: Wildlife species Age and sex Physiological condition (gestation, lactation, antler growth, etc.) Time of year Geographic location Wildlife Covered Today Songbirds Songbirds Deer Turkey Grouse & Woodcock Hare & Rabbit 2

3 Songbirds Feeder Caution Food Sources Bird Feeders Corn Millet Suet Sunflower Safflower Mix Thistle Black oil sunflower Suet Seed mixes Mealworms Beware! Bears love bird feeders too! Songbirds Natural Foods of Common Birds Food Sources Songbird planting Robins Flowering Dogwood, Crabapples, healthy and unhealthy lawns Downy Woodpecker Serviceberry, Dogwood, Mountain Ash, Virginia Creeper Ruby-throated Hummingbird Trumpet vine, Columbine, Bee Balm, Quince, most flowering plants producing red or orange flowers Indigo Bunting Unruly lawns, Dandelions, Goldenrod, Thistle Nuthatch Pine, Spruce and Fir trees Chickadee Winterberry, Serviceberry, Viburnums, Bayberry, Junipers Pileated Woodpecker Serviceberry, Elderberry Wren Bayberry Rose-breasted Grosbeak Cherry, Dogwood, Virginia creeper, Elderberry, Mulberry Junco Grasses, Conifers, Cosmos, Zinnia Red-winged Blackbird Marsh grasses, open pastureland Gold Finch Thistles, Grasses, Echinacea, Rudbeckia Northern Flicker Elderberry, Blueberry, Dogwoods Grackle Oaks, Grasses, poorly maintained lawns Baltimore oriole Quince, Serviceberry, Maples, Elms, Oaks Cardinal Winterberry, Roses, Dogwood, Junipers Titmouse Oaks, Serviceberry, Elderberry, Bayberry Bluebird Dogwood, Virginia creeper, Holly, Juniper, Sumac, Serviceberry Nesting Cover Bluebird Houses Open field placement near perches Place two boxes 15 to 25 feet apart and at least 100 yards from the next pair of boxes Place in the field mid-february or March Avoid pressure-treated lumber Do not use tin cans, milk cartons or metal 3

4 Feeding Cover Placing cover near food sources Gives protection from predators Offers a perch Supplement natural water sources with bird baths Water White-tailed Deer White-tailed Deer Habitat Seasonal variation in habitat requirements In general Young forest Forest openings Fields Crop lands Conifer swamp Spring & Summer Deer Foods Spring & Summer Deer Foods Spring break-out Green growth early Canada wild-rye June grass Orchard grass Blue grass Timothy Clovers Grasses Orchard grass Timothy Blue grass Oats Leaves of select trees Aspen Red maple White ash Blackberries Agricultural crops/food plots Corn Soybeans Buckwheat Clovers Alfalfa 4

5 02/19/2018 Fall Deer Foods Winter Deer Foods Fall Foods Winter Foods Acorns Beech nuts Crabapples Dogwood leaves Brambles Apples Fall-planted grains like wheat Corn Spring & Summer Deer Cover Fawning cover Bedding cover Horizontal cover Winter Deer Cover Conifer swamps Brushy areas Tall grasses like switchgrass Dense spruce or jack pine tall Cedar White pine Aspen Red maple Dogwood Yellow birch Sumac Fall Deer Cover Brushy areas Cattail swales Tall grasses like switchgrass Tall standing crops like corn Young pines years old Deer Habitat Management Aspen Management Food source within ¼ mile of cover 5

6 Deer Habitat Management Aspen Identification Aspen Management Bowse Ground and aerial cover Deer Habitat Management Oak Identification Oak Management Pin Oak White Oak Northern Red Oak Stump Sprouting Seed tree regeneration Oak Identification Deer Habitat Management White Oak Red Oak Hemlock and White Cedar Management Pin Oak Produces a heavy crop typically every 3rd year but a crop every other year. Sweetest of all acorns due to a very low tannic acid level. Produces a crop typically every 2nd year. Medium tannic acid level, deer will not feed entirely on red oak acorns due to some bitterness associated with them. Produces a crop typically every 2nd year. Low to medium tannic acid level. 6

7 Deer Habitat Management Eastern Wild Turkey Grassland & Forest Opening Management Wild Turkey Habitat Woodlots Forest openings Bottomlands Mast Seeds Greens Insects Wild Turkey Foods 90% plant matter 10% animal matter 1/3-1lb of food daily Wild Turkey Cover Mixture of open areas within a mature forest 30-50% wooded Variety of tree species Roosting sites Younger trees and shrubs at woods edges Travel corridors Forested streams connecting woody cover Wild Turkey Habitat Management Year-round food Provide food source in winter Turkey food plot program Mark Monroe and NWTF Mix of grass and forbs in spring Oaks and mast-producing shrubs in fall Forest and openings 10-30% mature oaks 5-10% conifers 10-15% shrubs 35-55% open lands 7

8 Grouse and Woodcock Grouse & Woodcock Habitat Young forests and brushy areas Aspen Tag alder Aspen & alder Buds Catkins Grouse Foods Leaves like wintergreen Mast Fruiting trees and shrubs Flower buds and fruit Birch Cherry Ironwood Invertebrates Earth worms Woodcock Foods Grouse & Woodcock Cover Drum logs for grouse Dense stem densities Large logs or stumps Singing grounds for woodcock Forest opening Fields with low vegetation Grouse & Woodcock Cover Dense young aspen Brushy areas Ground cover like wintergreen for grouse Moist soils with earthworms for woodcock 8

9 Grouse & Woodcock Management Aspen Clearcutting rotation Grouse & Woodcock Management Aspen Clearcutting rotation Tag Alder Cut when stems lie horizontally Strip cuts Openings Soft edge Plant fruiting shrubs Protect moist soils Snowshoe Hare Snowshoe Hare Habitat Dense Jack pine Cedar/spruce swamps Alder Bogs Visual obstruction and browse biomass Hare Foods Grasses and herbaceous foods Woody Foods Twigs Raspberry Blackberry Cranberry Cedar Spruce/fir Thornapple Bark Hare Cover Mixture of legumes and grasses Dense conifer cover low to the ground Jack Pine Swamp lands with fir, cedar, spruce 9

10 Hare Cover Brush Piles: 5 tall by 15 wide Base of large logs Criss-cross second layer Pile brush on top yards apart Away from tall edge of woodlot avian predators Hare Cover Hinge-cutting or live lopping Hare Habitat Management Provide year-round food adjacent to or within cover Provide dense cover near the ground If young conifers not present create brush piles Summary How you manage land impacts wildlife Younger forests are good for deer, grouse, woodcock, and hare Food, cover, water and space all are important Lots of resources out there: DNR website: Managing Michigan s Wildlife A Landowner s Guide Native plants Conservation District Thank You Jennifer Kleitch ext kleitchj@michigan.gov 10