FW 404: Managing for Game Birds (Upland and Migratory), 11/25

Mourning Dove

• Widespread and abundant

  • ~70 million harvested/yr

  • Over 500 million in US

  • Migratory/resident

• Benefit from:

  • Land clearing

  • Agriculture

  • Bird feeders

• High annual mortality rate

• Lay 2-egg clutches 5-6 times/year

• Males larger and more colorful than females

• Seed-eaters (99%)

• sparsely vegetated ground

• Eat grasses, croton, sunflowers, ragweed, pokeweed, smartweed, pines, cereal grains, soybeans

• Nest in trees, shrubs, vines up to 50 ft, usually lower

• feed crop milk to young

Habitat Requirements

• Nest in open woodlands, young forest, along edges

  • Agricultural and urban landscapes

• Roost in mid-succession vegetation

• Stage next to feeding areas, often in snags

• Feed in cropland & disturbed areas w/ bare ground

  • Move 3-11 miles/day to find new food sources

Management for Doves

• Avoid clean farming, closed canopy plantations, and large, contiguous even-aged forest

• 70% agricultural crops, old fields, early succession

• 28% forest, mostly with open canopy

  • Use repeated prescribed fire

• 2% free-standing water - banks w/ sparse veg.

• Maintain snags as congregation sites

Field Management (>5 acres)

• Sunflowers, grain sorghum, millet

  • Planted in strips with fallow between

  • Clean-row middles or burned (bare ground)

  • Mow, push down, or burn existing crops/weeds

• Where doves want to be (H2O, snags, high spots)

• 20-50 acres and away from humans is ideal

• Follow normal agricultural practice

  • Top sowing sunflowers not allowed

Ruffed Grouse

• Past - logging, abandoned farms

• Today – mature forests, fire suppression

• Pop. decline since 1970s

• Silver-gray to red-brown (aspen, birch, maple vs. oak camouflage)

• >1500 ft elevations in SE

• Males drum logs to attract mates (>10” dbh)

• Nest on ground at base of tree or log

• 7-16 eggs/clutch

• Diet – herbaceous vegetation, soft mast (grape, greenbrier, dogwood), hard mast, insects (4-6 weeks old), evergreen vegetation/buds in winter

Habitat Requirements

• 5-15 yr old forest w/ high woody stem density

  • drumming logs >10 ft long, large diameter (>10”)

  • drumming sites near top or base of ridge

• Mature forests w/dense understory shrubs

• Nest in mid-aged/mature stands w/ CWD, herbs

• Brood in herbaceous vegetation adjacent to cover

• Thermal protection in conifers, evergreen shrubs

Habitat Management

• Intersperse mid-successional forest patches (5-30 acres) to provide cover/forage

  • Clearcut (retain hard mast producers)

  • 2-aged stand, < 20ft2/acre retained

• Retain downed wood

• Brood cover:

  • Small timber harvest openings

  • Old fields, roadsides/logging decks

  • Burned areas

  • Mesic coves/bottoms with herbs

American Woodcock

• Forest shorebird

• Migratory

• Past – logging and old fields

• Today – mature forest

• 1968-2014: -1%/yr

• Females: larger, outer 3 primaries ≥ 0.5 in. wide

• Males: outer 3 primaries <0.5 in, shorter bill

• Diet – mostly earthworms (ants, beetles,seeds)

• Male courtship display

• Nest in shallow depressions

• Usually 4-egg clutches

Habitat Requirements

• Feed in soils w/ high pH, moisture (earthworms)

  • Bottomlands, organic soils in uplands

  • Sparse vegetation within 1 foot of ground

• Diurnal – young forest and mature bottomlands with shrubs or switchcane

• Nocturnal – fallow fields, croplands, pastures, young forest

  • Usually, w/in 1.25 miles of each other

• Nest in early- to mid-successional vegetation

• Brood: open ground with moist soils

Habitat Management

• Soybean, especially no-till with ridge and furrow

• Logging decks for singing grounds

• Promote early-succession vegetation (stages 2/3)

  • Clearcut ≥ 10 acres (or other timber harvests)

  • Widely spaced planted pines

  • PCT or commercial thin to maintain open canopy

  • Small harvest openings in riparian areas (group selection)

  • Prescribed burns in old fields and forests

Key Summary Points

• Game birds are disturbance-dependent

• Timber harvest, fire, disking

• Doves require bare ground and eat seeds

• Grouse/woodcock require high stem density

• Habitat requirements change seasonally

• Landscape diversity required