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The front table was covered with an assortment of bird nests, a shed snakeskin,
and great horned owl pellets. Each had been collected from land owned
and managed by the NJ OWL July lecturer, Dr. Len Wolgast, Professor
Emeritus of Wildlife Ecology & Management at Cook College. The nests
and other items were in many ways a by-product of the wildlife management
techniques that he was going to talk about during his presentation, "Making
the Most of Your Land for Wildlife." Dr. Wolgast would showcase
the art and science of land management that considers the needs of wildlife
as it occurs on his Christmas tree farm. He said that virtually all of
these practices could be adapted to fit in a suburban backyard.
| He began by giving an
overview of a research project conducted by one of his graduate students
which looked at which size and species of Christmas trees are used
by which bird species for nesting. Starting in early April and going
through mid-September, they visited seven Christmas tree farms in
central New Jersey to search individual trees for bird nests. This
included his own farm in Somerset. In all, they located 451 nests
that were made by eleven different bird species. |
Dr. Len Wolgast and some of
the nests and other natural artifacts collected from his Christmas
tree farm. |
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American robin nestlings in a Scotch
pine. American robins were found to be the most frequent species
to nest in Christmas trees during a graduate research project. |
The most common nester was the American robin,
which accounted for 118 of the nests.Other
bird species found to nest in Christmas trees, starting with the
most common to the least common were: house finch, song sparrow,
field sparrow, chipping sparrow, northern mockingbird, mourning
dove, common grackle, purple finch, American goldfinch and cedar
waxwing.
Dr. Wolgast outlined which species of Christmas
tree was most often used for nesting (Scotch pine), and by which
bird species, including the preferred height of the tree for the
bird in question.
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He explained how, armed with this knowledge a grower
could encourage bird nesting in his or her trees if they were interested.
He noted with some pride that his Christmas tree farm supported the greatest
diversity of nesting bird species of all the farms in the study.
| Dr. Wolgast then focused on other
management practices he uses on his farm to attract wildlife. "If
any piece of land is going to be managed for wildlife," he explained,
"you need to have some goals in mind. On my farm, my particular
goal is to have as many wildlife species as possible, as long as they
don’t significantly interfere with the primary purpose of the
land, which is to grow Christmas trees."
He said he allows a diversity of vegetation
to grow on the farm besides Christmas trees, which in turn attracts
a greater diversity of wildlife. For example, he plants sunflowers,
which are eaten by American goldfinches, and he lets common milkweed
grow for monarch butterfly caterpillars to eat.
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Cedar waxwing fledgling in a Douglas
fir |
Eastern cottontail rabbit hiding in
a thicket. They are a prey item for hawks and owls, and a variety
of mammalian predators such as red foxes, gray foxes and coyotes. |
Also, his fields are a little "weedy"
which appeals to many wildlife species to raise young, hunt for
prey, and seek protection from the weather. These "weeds"
often supply seeds for foraging animals and are home to a multitude
of insects which not only boosts diversity, but are themselves a
source of food for wildlife.
Adding a body of water, like a lake or small
pond, can dramatically increase wildlife diversity, he said. He
had a slide of a brook that someone had dammed up many years ago
before he purchased the property in 1976. The resulting small pond
gets used by a variety of birds, mammals and reptiles and amphibians
including wood ducks, mallards, black ducks, great blue herons,
green herons, solitary sandpipers, belted kingfishers, muskrats,
green frogs, northern two-lined salamanders, and northern water
snakes.
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It was pointed out that you’d have to apply
for permits from the state if you wanted to dam a brook running through
your property today.
Dr. Wolgast also encourages bird
nesting that doesn’t occur in Christmas trees by putting
up nest boxes. Different species of cavity nesters require nest
boxes with specific dimensions. Dr. Wolgast has nest boxes for
eastern screech owls, eastern bluebirds, house wrens, purple martins,
wood ducks, mallards and roost boxes for bats.
As on any farm, wildlife can
sometimes cause damage. Most noticeable is the damage caused when
male white-tailed deer (bucks) rub their antlers on his Christmas
trees in October and November to alert other deer of their presence.
To keep this damage at a tolerable level, Dr. Wolgast actively
hunts deer. He doesn’t eat domestic meat, so it also provides
an important source of protein in his diet.
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White-tailed buck rubbing a Christmas
tree
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Great Horned owl fledglings
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He described other management practices as well,
all of which have been very effective at attracting wildlife to
his land. To date, his 16-acre farm boasts a sightings list of more
than 180 bird species, 28 species of mammals, 13 species of reptiles
and amphibians, and an undocumented number of butterflies, moths
and other insects.
Not all of the management techniques that Dr.
Wolgast described would be able to make the transition to suburban
backyard, but a great majority would. For anyone interested in learning
about ways to make their land more attractive to wildlife, Dr. Wolgast’s
presentation provided a tantalizing glimpse of the possibilities
to create a more vivid landscape that benefits wildlife and people.
Submitted by Cathy Blumig
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