Saving Birds Thru Habitat

A couple of weeks ago, Vern Stephens and his wife Sue Tangora brought their PowerPoint prairie program and a good selection of their native plants to our Habitat Discovery Center. The program (by Vern) was to educate people about the importance of prairie habitat. It included guidelines about how to manage a prairie once it is installed.

The plants were for sale. When we first began our efforts to educate those who are concerned about our declining bird populations about the significance of native plants to birds and other wildlife (such as amphibians, fish, reptiles and others), there were few places where one could purchase such plants. While this is beginning to change, there are still insufficient native plants available on the market. Vern and Sue’s program and plant sale fit perfectly with our mission, which is to protect, enhance and restore habitat for North American birds.

Vern and Sue were instrumental in guiding Jim and Kay Charter through their prairie installation project, and they found the funding to assist the Charter’s in completing the project. They are naturally interested in watching the progress of this beautiful, developing prairie.

The first thing Vern did when they arrived for their afternoon program and sale was to walk into the little bluestem. In a few seconds, he returned with a preying mantis in his hand.

When he showed us what he had, he said, “This is what I was looking for; predator insects. If the predator insects are doing well, that means there is a good insect prey base.”

That is great news for our migrating and nesting birds. Jim Charter has worked diligently for the past four summers taking care of this prairie habitat. Finding that it is working so well attests to the quality of his efforts.

Our Board President, Gina Erb, took the photo of Vern and their son, Zach, looking at a preying mantis on one of our long-branch bluebird nest boxes.

On a morning late last month, a host of Neotropical species stopped in to forage in and around the prairie demonstration garden just outside the SBTH Habitat Discovery Center.  This garden is filled with half a dozen species of native grasses and many more species of forbs (wildflowers), and it has a standing dead elm at one corner.  Several native maple trees are nearby and a berry-laden serviceberry is at the opposite corner of the snag.

The flock of goldfinches, taking seeds from black-eyed Susans, was no surprise.  Neither, actually, was the family of eastern kingbirds, hawking insects from their respective perches in the dead elm.  None of the birds was unexpected, including the great crested flycatcher, hunting from a branch in the elm, or the rose breasted grosbeak or the nectaring hummingbird, or the pair of Baltimore orioles.  All of these birds occur regularly on the Center’s property, and all were foraging on insects, nectar and seeds of our native plants.

But what was striking about this occurrence was that their foraging at the same time was a great example of the degree to which native plants provide for them – without the addition of feeders.  There are no feeders at the Discovery Center, but there always are foraging birds.

If you are in Leelanau County and you would like to see just how effective our habitats are, stop by and check us out.  We are located at 5020 North Putnam Road, about two miles west of “downtown” Omena.

Entomologist and MSU extension agent Duke Elsner recently led an insect walk that focused on those creatures that are drawn to sap, particularly those that become active after the sun sets.  In order to draw these fascinating insects in, he painted a number of trees with a mixture of sugar, beer, molasses, banana extract and rum.

On the first tree baited, ants were the first to arrive, and they likely continued to visit the site after all the human visitors were long gone.  There were also slugs, daddy long legs, camel crickets, and the star of the night, ground beetles and a single underwing moth (Noctuidae catocala).  Duke informed the group that this same bait, applied in the morning, would bring different insects.

Anyone wanting to attract nighttime insects can make up a batch of bait by beginning with five pounds of sugar, a can or bottle of beer, and the other above listed ingredients.  The final mix should be liquid enough to stick to the tree and remain fluid for several hours before crystallizing, but not so runny that it all drains off the trees.  Use a large paint brush to apply and then watch to see what shows up!