Wildlife Habitat on Your Property - antrimcd.com...• Younger trees and shrubs at woods edges • Travel corridors – Forested streams connecting woody cover Wild Turkey Habitat

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Wildlife Habitat on Your Property

Jennifer KleitchWildlife Division

February 15, 2018

What is Habitat?

• Varies by species

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

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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

Food

Cover

Water

Space

Habitat Requirements

• 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• Deer

• Turkey• Grouse & Woodcock

• Hare & Rabbit

Songbirds

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Songbirds

• Food Sources– Bird Feeders

• Corn• Millet• Suet• Sunflower• Safflower• Mix• Thistle

Black oil sunflower

Mealworms

Seed mixes

Suet

Feeder Caution

• Beware! Bears love bird feeders too!

Songbirds

• Food Sources– Songbird planting

Natural Foods of Common Birds• Robins

Flowering Dogwood, Crabapples, healthy and unhealthy lawns

• Downy WoodpeckerServiceberry, Dogwood, Mountain Ash, Virginia Creeper

• Ruby-throated HummingbirdTrumpet vine, Columbine, Bee Balm, Quince, most flowering plants producing red or orange flowers

• Indigo BuntingUnruly lawns, Dandelions, Goldenrod, Thistle

• NuthatchPine, Spruce and Fir trees

• ChickadeeWinterberry, Serviceberry, Viburnums, Bayberry, Junipers

• Pileated WoodpeckerServiceberry, Elderberry

• WrenBayberry

• Rose-breasted GrosbeakCherry, Dogwood, Virginia creeper, Elderberry, Mulberry

• JuncoGrasses, Conifers, Cosmos, Zinnia

• Red-winged BlackbirdMarsh grasses, open pastureland

• Gold FinchThistles, Grasses, Echinacea, Rudbeckia

• Northern FlickerElderberry, Blueberry, Dogwoods

• GrackleOaks, Grasses, poorly maintained lawns

• Baltimore orioleQuince, Serviceberry, Maples, Elms, Oaks

• CardinalWinterberry, Roses, Dogwood, Junipers

• TitmouseOaks, Serviceberry, Elderberry, Bayberry

• BluebirdDogwood, 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

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Feeding Cover

• Placing cover near food sources– Gives protection from

predators– Offers a perch

Water

• Supplement natural water sources with bird baths

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 break-out– Green growth early

• Canada wild-rye• June grass• Orchard grass• Blue grass• Timothy• Clovers

Spring & Summer Deer Foods

• 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

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Fall Deer Foods

• Fall Foods– Acorns– Beech nuts– Crabapples– Dogwood leaves– Brambles– Apples– Fall-planted grains like

wheat– Corn

Winter Deer Foods

• Winter Foods– Cedar– White pine– Aspen– Red maple– Dogwood– Yellow birch– Sumac

Spring & Summer Deer Cover

• Fawning cover• Bedding cover• Horizontal cover

Fall Deer Cover

• Brushy areas• Cattail swales• Tall grasses like

switchgrass• Tall standing crops

like corn• Young pines 10-20

years old

Winter Deer Cover

• Conifer swamps• Brushy areas• Tall grasses like

switchgrass• Dense spruce or jack

pine 10-25’ tall

• Food source within ¼ mile of cover

Deer Habitat Management

• Aspen Management

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Deer Habitat Management

• Aspen Management

• Bowse• Ground and aerial cover

Aspen Identification

Deer Habitat Management

• Oak Management

Seed tree regenerationStump Sprouting

Oak Identification

Pin Oak White Oak Northern Red 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. Low to medium 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.

White Oak

Pin Oak

Red Oak

Oak Identification Deer Habitat Management

• Hemlock and White Cedar Management

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Deer Habitat Management

• Grassland & Forest Opening Management

Eastern Wild Turkey

Wild Turkey Habitat

• Woodlots• Forest openings

• Bottomlands

Wild Turkey Foods

• Mast• Seeds

• Greens• Insects

• 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

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Grouse and Woodcock Grouse & Woodcock Habitat

• Young forests and brushy areas– Aspen– Tag alder

Grouse Foods

• Aspen & alder– Buds– Catkins

• Leaves like wintergreen• Mast

– Fruiting trees and shrubs

• Flower buds and fruit– Birch– Cherry– Ironwood

Woodcock Foods

• Invertebrates– Earth worms

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

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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

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Hare Cover

• Brush Piles: – 5’tall by 15’wide– Base of large logs– Criss-cross second layer– Pile brush on top– 20-30 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

www.michigan.gov/dnrJennifer Kleitch

989-732-3541 ext. [email protected]