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FW: Gallinaceous and other Birdlife and thier affect on prairies

Title: FW: Gallinaceous and other Birdlife and thier affect on prairies

JWHoyt: I'm forwarding this to the iowa native plants and prairie mailing lists to see if some of the folks there might have insights on your query.

-----Original Message-----
From: James Hoyt [j*@prairienet.org]
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 2:27 AM
To: James Ellis
Cc: ECOSTEWARDS
Subject: Gallinaceous and other Birdlife and thier affect on prairies



Does anyone know of any studies that have been done on plants are
neccesary to support bird populations through the winter in a prairie
setting.

My Audubon group brought this to my attention during one of our
Christmas-NewYears bird counts.

I also wonder if Gallinaceous birds exert an influence upon reseeding of
praires.

It seems that there would be some scarification of seeds in the craw and
gizzard of the birds.

My limited experience seems to suggest that most prairie plantings lack
plants with large seeds. (With the exception of Grama Grass) 

I seem to find more winter birds of all kinds in areas where a prairie is
adjacent to wildlife (sorghum) "food patches", corn fields, and brushy
areas.

Reading the article by William Maclain in the Fall 2000 "Illinois
Steward", "Days of the Market Hunter" seems to suggest (or at least
infer) that prairie chickens and other birds benefited from the small
fields planted by early pioneers. These fields not only produced grains,
they also produced an abundance of insects which allowed for a high
survival rate of young.

I hope this gives food for thought to the many dedicated botanists,
entemologists, herpetologists, and ornithologists who toil to restore
prairies.

Jim Hoyt

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