A "CALL TO ACTION" FOR ALL WILDLIFE ENTHUSIASTS
Because we have been losing so many birds and insect in the last few decades, our QF Chapter is encouraging everyone (if they are physically able) to become a person, or a group that will be an IMPROVER.
OUR S.E. QUAIL FOREVER CHAPTER IS ENCOURAGING INDVIDUALS AND GROUPS TO BECOME ACTIVE IN IMPROVING WILDLIFE HABITAT
Listed below are some suggestions that are very good for many species of wildlife, like pheasants, turkeys, deer, many of the songbirds, and especially quail.
a. Establish a football size quail habitat area on some nonproductive land. Click Here to view an helpful explanation.
b. Do some edge feathering (cutting down trees) at edge of a field. Ideal cutting would be 30 ft. into the woods however, 20 or 10 ft. would be helpful. Length of cutting should be 50-70 ft. long.
c. Do some light disking, again on some nonproductive land. It is best to spray the area before disking, to get rid of the sod type grasses. This should be done in the fall before the ground freezes. This practice will bring in ragweed, which is a main food and cover source for quail and many other birds. Establish some brush piles along the edges of this disked site. Bruch piles should not be packed down, but rather loosely pilled up. Ideal brush piles should be around 1,500 sq. ft., that’s about the size of a two-car garage. You want to space these brush piles about 70 ft. apart.
d. Establish a sorghum food plot on you selected land. Make sure you have brushy edges. Brush piles will work just fine. Corn food plots work good for deer and turkeys, but sorghum works for quail and other birds.
e. If there are red cedar trees, or spruce trees on you selected site, try and keep your food and cover sites close to these types of trees. Quail rely heavily on these type of conifers in the winter when the snow gets deep.
f. Establish a pollinator plot. A pollinator plot can small, like a portion of your lawn, or large ones up to an acre or more in size. Some ground nesting birds will nest in some pollinator sites. We strongly recommend using native plants for the pollinators. Any questions consult with your local master gardener.
g. Put up a standalone chimney swift tower, or you can put a chimney swift tower and establish a pollinator garden around the tower, this way you are helping the birds and the bees in one location. Click on these links and get the information on how to put up a chimney swift tower.
Chimney Swift Tower Construction Part One
Chimney Swift Tower Construction Part Two
Improving wildlife habitat can be done by one person, or it can be done by a group of people, like a sportsmen club, the Scouts, 4-H clubs, a school science club, bird watchers, etc. Again, let’s all become IMPROVERS when comes to wildlife habitat.
To download any of this information, to simply share with someone else or to read more, please Click Here to download a PDF of this useful information.