Wildlife Conservation Sunflower Plots and Croplands as Fall Habitat for Migratory Birds

Abstract

ABSTRACT.-Agricultural fields are often overlooked as post-breeding and migratory bird habitat, even though many species use row-crop fields in the northern Great Plains. We monitored bird use, crop and non-crop vegetation characteristics and abundance, and land use around (#2.4 km) 35 8-ha Wildlife Conservation Sunflower Plots (WCSP) and one commercial sunflower and non-sunflower row-crop field, paired with each WCSP, in fall 2004 and 2005. We excluded four species of blackbirds from our analysis that commonly form large foraging flocks and ubiquitously use agricultural fields. A diverse community of migratory birds used WCSP and commercial sunflower compared to other non-sunflower crops in North Dakota. Both WCSP (mean 5 24.4 birds/ha, SE 5 2.7) and commercial sunflower (mean 5 12.7 birds/ha, SE 5 1.7) harbored greater densities of birds (P , 0.01) than did other non-sunflower row crops (mean 5 7.2 birds/ha, SE 5 1.1). Migratory birds were more strongly associated with vegetation within fields, such as crop density (+), non-crop plant abundance (+) and crop height (+), than surrounding land uses (0-2.4 km from WCSP). We recommend management practices to maximize WCSP for fall bird habitat and discuss economic considerations for WCSP implementation as a wildlife habitat / blackbird damage management system.

Bird Species Abundance and Their Correlationship with Microclimate and Habitat Variables at Natural Wetland Reserve, Peninsular Malaysia

“…International Journal of Zoology Distance sampling point count method is widely used to examine the avian species abundance in different habitats and the association of bird species with habitats characteristics and microclimates [21][22][23]. This method involves the visual and auditory detection of birds within fixed-or variable-radius plots [24].…”

Assessment of Bird-management Strategies to Protect Sunflowers

“…Costs are less for lands not in agricultural production (e.g., Conservation Reserve Program crops). Also, the threshold estimate includes the assumption of decoy crops' protecting crops of confectionary sunflowers (Hagy et al 2008). e Based on an advancement of the harvest of seven days and 0.009 kilogram of sunflower eaten per day per bird at $0.37 per kilogram sunflower (Peer et al 2003).…”

“…The USDA-WS offered candidate sunflower producers $375.00/ha to plant 35 8-ha Wildlife Conservation Sunflower Plots (WCSPs) near cattail-dominated wetlands with histories of elevated levels of blackbird damage (Hagy et al 2008(Hagy et al , 2010. The blackbird damage in the WCSPs was highly variable, ranging from 0% to 100%.…”

“…In comparison with the research by Cummings and colleagues (1987), the cost:benefit ratio was 2:1, indicating a negative economic return. However, the cost:benefit ratio did not include the intrinsic values of the WCSPs, such as the use of the plots as wildlife habitat by sizable numbers of nontarget bird species, some of which are grassland bird species of conservation concern (Hagy et al 2010).…”

“…The planting of oilseed www.biosciencemag.org Articles sunflowers near confectionary sunflowers-the latter being much more valuable-could offset WCSP planting costs if blackbird damage in the WCSP were 12% or more, a level of damage found in 74% of the WCSPs (Hagy et al 2008).…”