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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]