Juncos, Southwest Michigan and getting lost in the swamp

In this episode of the Wildtalk Podcast, we’ll shine our wildlife spotlight on the dark-eyed junco, find out what habitat work is happening in the Southwest Lower Peninsula, hear listener questions answered in the mailbag segment and get a sample of conservation officer activity reports from the field. 

Questions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD). You can also email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov, and even send your question as a sound file that you record on your phone to be played on the air!

Episode Hosts: Hannah Schauer and Rachel Leightner
Producer: Eric Hilliard
Around the State Guest: Chad Fedewa
Law enforcement segment host: Katie Gervasi

• Wildlife Spotlight Links
  • Dark-eyed junco
• Around the State Links
  • Michigan.gov/Deer
  • Current reported harvest totals
  • DNR Hunt Fish App
  • Timber sales
  • Wetland Wonders
  • Michigan Natural Features Inventory
• Conservation Officer Reports
  • Conservation officer bi-weekly reports
• Mailbag Links
  • Michigan snakes
  • Nuisance wildlife prevention
  • Michigan.gov/Trapping
  • Michigan.gov/Deer
  • Bald eagles 

Questions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD) or email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov.

Transcript

Announcer:

You know what that sound means? It's time for the Michigan DNR's Wild Talk Podcast. Welcome to the Wild Talk Podcast, for representatives from the DNR's Wildlife Division, chew the fat and shoot the scat about all things habitat, feathers and fur. With insights, interviews and your questions answered on the air, you'll get a better picture of what's happening in the world of wildlife here in the great state of Michigan.

Rachel:

Welcome to Wild Talk. I'm your host Rachel Leightner and here with me today is the wonderful Hannah Schauer. How are you Hannah?

Hannah:

I'm doing well. How are you today Rachel?

Rachel:

I am just peachy.

Hannah:

In this month's episode we'll be answering some of your questions from the mail bag, hearing some conservation officer reports from the field, and sometime during the show we will be revealing the winners of our Wild Talk podcast camp mugs and you'll be able to find out how you can win one too.

Rachel:

We've also got Chad Fedewa on the show to talk about what's going on for wildlife in the southwest region. But first we're going to shine our wildlife spotlight on the dark eyed junco.

In the northern portions of Michigan, you may have dark eye juncos as year round residents, but for those in southern Michigan, their arrival is a sign that winter is approaching.

Hannah:

No, I'm here in southern Michigan and I look forward to the juncos arriving each year, because they're such fun little birds to watch. I just love seeing them hop around my backyard and my flower garden. And then when it snows they usually stand out against that backdrop of white. They're just a stunning little bird. I think they're so cool. One of my favorite.

Rachel:

Yes, I'm really excited to see if we have them in our backyard this year. It's a new backyard to us, so I would have my binoculars at they're ready to see if they come through. In eastern North America, the male dark eye juncos typically have dark slate gray feathers on their back and a white belly. While females tend to be more drab, or brownish in coloration than the males. The beak or the bill is pale and color. Now in other regions of North America, other color variations can be seen.

Hannah:

Yeah, and juncos are a type of sparrow and they are similarly small in size. And the majority of a juncos diet is seeds and often they will visit bird feeders. So if you've got bird feeders up, you might notice them. Some examples of preferred seeds are chickweed, buckwheat, and sorrel. Juncos will also eat insects such as beetles, moths, and wasps.

Rachel:

Delicious.

Hannah:

Tasty.

Rachel:

Now their preferred habitat is forests, but during the winter they may use a variety of habitats, so it's not unusual to see them hopping around your backyard or your garden. Their nests are typically built on the ground or occasionally just above the ground like on a branch.

Hannah:

Now females pick the location for the nest and they build it using items like twigs, leaves, mosses, grasses, ferns, roots, and hair and nests are not usually reused. I think some birds reuse nests, but juncos are not one of those.

Rachel:

Sounds like they make beautiful nests though. I'd love to see a bird nest with moss and ferns. It sounds beautiful. A clutch has about three to six eggs and a pair may have one to three broods in a season. The eggs are incubated for 12 to 13 days and nestlings leave the nest after 10 to 13 days.

Hannah:

Now in the winter, juncos form large flocks and they may also be seen with other species of birds as well. Interestingly, flocks have a hierarchy, or pecking order and the earliest to arrive are higher ranking in the group. Females tend to migrate farther than the males do and the birds will typically return to the same winter territory each year. So fascinating little birds. I look forward to seeing them in their little groups in the winter time here. So keep your eyes open, because you'll probably be seeing them near you soon. Next up, we'll be talking about what is going on in the southwest region. So stick around.

Announcer:

The Michigan DNR's Hunt Fish app puts access to outdoor recreation right in the palm of your hand. Purchase and store your hunting and fishing licenses right in the app so you always have them with you. Are you ready to report your harvest? Save time by reporting with the app. Want to have access to the most up to date hunting and fishing regulations even without internet connectivity. Sounds like you need the app. Just search for Michigan DNR Hunt Fish in the app stores of your Apple and Android devices.

Rachel:

Welcome back to Wild Talk. Chad Fedewa, the wildlife biologist out of the Rose Lake field office and the acting field operations manager is joining us on the show today, chat about the happenings in the southwest region. Thanks for joining me today Chad.

Chad:

Thanks for having me, my podcast debut.

Rachel:

Welcome to the show. We're excited you're here. What would you say is the biggest accomplishment that your region has tackled this quarter?

Chad:

Okay, right now the biggest goal for our staff is to get ready for deer season. We're into deer season already with archery season starting out, but we have a lot of areas where we are collecting chronic waste and disease samples, but also the new mandatory harvest reporting system is in place this year, so that's new for our staff as well as the hunters alike. So our staff are trying to get used to that system and being able to help hunters who call in with questions, help with that transition this year with it being a new system. So it's been a pretty good system. The hunters seem to be figuring it out. We've got data to show that 83% of hunters already have completed their report in under five minutes. Almost 90% of them are doing it online as opposed to the new hunt fish app that we've got available and seems to be most people are picking up on it.

Rachel:

It sounds like there's been a handful of changes for staff and hunters to navigate this fall, but everybody's figuring it out and the fall has been off to a good start, which is great to hear. Now moving forward through the rest of the fall months, what's the biggest project, you would say, your staff has looming on the horizon?

Chad:

Oh, we have quite a few timber sales that we're getting ready. So one of the ways we do habitat improvements for wildlife on public lands are through timber sales. So we plan these out pretty well in advance. We, depending on the habitat and wildlife goals, we set up different prescriptions for timber harvest and we put these sales up for bid and logging companies bid on them and pay the state for these sales. So most recently we had, in the northern part of the southwest region, we had six sales that sold recently for over a half million dollars. That money goes back into the state budgets, DNR budgets for uses in the future and then the southern part of the region has some sales coming up here pretty shortly. So our staff spend a lot of time carefully planning those, developing the specific habitat objectives that we're looking to get out of those sales and working with the contractors and loggers to make sure those specifications are met when they're doing the work out there and that we get the best results for the habitat for the wildlife and for the public.

Another thing we've got coming up that's kind of a new unique thing is we have a partnership through Michigan State University, where we are working with some researchers to do a game area use survey. So what that will entail is working with them to develop a project on some specific state game areas in Michigan to get a better idea of who's using these public lands and what they're doing on our public lands.

So we had a pilot study done at the Rose Lake State Wildlife area just outside of Lansing a few years ago and that went pretty well and we decided we're going to try to expand that and we're working with Michigan State. Right now, we're just in the planning stages, we're developing some of the criteria going through that process and then we will eventually select a handful of state game areas and over the next five years working with Michigan State to do research to figure out who's using these areas, what they're doing out there moving forward, because recreational habits are changing and we've noticed that over the years and they'll probably continue to change in the future. So this should be a cool project to get underway.

Rachel:

Sounds like an incredible project and it sounds like there's certainly no shortage of work happening in the region. And how about some of your staff? Are there any impressive individual contributions that some of your staff have made this quarter?

Chad:

Yeah, so one of the things I think that's been talked about in recent shows you've done the Maple River State game area. We've had some pretty major construction going on a couple of the impoundments there to shore up the berms in the flooding, so we can hold water. They had a couple of holes in them. That project has now finished. There's a couple of things they got to wrap up, but given the lack of water, I guess probably anybody listening's probably not too surprised to hear that we haven't had a lot of rain this summer. So the river level at Maple River, the water levels are really low so we're having a hard time filling those impoundments up to our pump stations, but with that said, we do have additional units if anybody's familiar with that area. Units C and D are the seasonal wildlife refuge.

We do have water in there and then also in units X and Y, which are walk-in hunting units. And then we're working on getting water into Unit E, which is also a walk-in hunting unit next to the refuge. So our local staff up there, Todd Bayshore is our wildlife assistant. He's been working hard the last few weeks getting the water into the units, pumping water through our pump stations, but then also through our mobile pumps that are operated off a tractor to get water into those units and get them ready for hunting season coming up. At the Allegan state game area, we have some oak savannahs. So these oak savannahs are kind of a combination between grasslands and forest. So you have trees but they're scattered trees, so you have a lot of sunlight coming through to the forest floor which allow grasses and wildflowers to grow and in the absence of fire it wants to be a forest.

So we have a lot of brush and trees that grow up. So without that disturbance of fire we have to resort to a couple of options. One is prescribed fire, which we do, and then the other is mechanical treatments like mowing, or herbicide treatments. So staff at Allegan, particularly our assistants, Jake Crawford and Dean Borman do a lot of mowing to try to keep that oak savannah characteristic maintained. So our awesome partners at Michigan Natural Features Inventory recently developed a fire needs assessment tool and so that's a model to show what areas need, or historically have developed with the help of fire. And Allegan in particular, has shown that they have about 30,000 acres at Allegan that have historically been fire dependent. Annually we're only able to get about 500 acres of that burned through our prescribed burn program. Then on top of that they do the additional mowing as well. And between those two they're only able to do a couple thousand acres a year in rotation, trying to keep that oaks Havana characteristic. It's a pretty heavy lift to do annually and they do a great job of it.

Rachel:

Indeed, they do. Allegan, I will advocate strongly for elegance taking area, because it is an incredibly beautiful place. It's huge and expansive and the savannah area you were talking about is really good for wildlife viewing, but it's good for finding wildflowers too and the savannah systems are great places to have picnics, so if you were looking for a place to go have an outdoor lunch this fall, that's a great place to check out. Well thanks so much for joining us today, Chad. We really appreciate you taking the time. Tell us about the work that's happening for wildlife in the Southwest region.

Chad:

Sure, no problem. Thanks for having me.

Announcer:

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Katie:

Roger that. This is Katie Gervasi with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division, here to share more conservation officer biweekly reports from the field. Conservation officers, Jeremy Sergey and John Kamps received information that a hunter had harvested a bear in the wrong bear management unit. The officers were only provided a general location of where the individual was camping. After searching for some time, the officers located the individual camping on state land with two other bear hunters. In addition to obtaining a confession, the following violations were also discovered. Unidentified tree stand, hunting with a semiautomatic rifle capable of holding greater than six shells, and transporting an uncased pistol on an off-road vehicle. The bear was seized and the case is open pending prosecution and the Baraga County Court.

Conservation officers, Robert Freeborn and Michael Evink responded to a safety zone complaint of a bear shot on the side of a county road in front of a residence. The officers documented the kill site along with where the bear was loaded into a truck. A slug and a .45 caliber casing were also found on the scene. Several hours later the subject was located and interviewed. It was determined that the hunter had been running the bear with his hounds. He was utilizing a tracking device on the dogs and knew where they were going to cross the road. As the bear crossed with the dogs in pursuit, he shot the bear with his pistol at a very close range. When the hunter was checked, it was determined that the tag was not notched properly, enforcement action was taken.

Conservation officer Kyle Cherry responded to a complaint in Otsego County of a turkey that was likely shot out of season. Officer Cherry identified a male suspect and contacted him for an interview. The subject initially stated that his wife had shot the turkey and that he had not been successful this year. After further questioning, the subject admitted that he shot the turkey in the late spring and used his wife's kill tag on the turkey. Property was seized and charges are being sought through the Otsego County prosecutor's office.

Conservation officer Jeff Ginn responded to a fully involved structure fire with a subject possibly trapped inside. When he arrived, the officer located a very large bonfire behind a residence with a large group of friends and family surrounding it. Upon investigating the blaze, Ginn notice the fire contains several tires, mattresses, and other various furniture items. Ginn located the landowner who was responsible and cited him for the violation. Ginn, had the fire department continue to the residence and extinguish the illegal fire. The landowner was also found to have an outstanding warrant for an unlawful disposal of solid waste. He was transported and lodged at the new county jail.

While off duty, conservation officer Casey Pullum received a complaint from Oscoda County central dispatch of two subjects lost in the woods on an off-road vehicle. The individuals were operating side by side after dark when they became lost and traveled cross country through the woods and got stuck in a wetland. They had 5% battery left on their cell and decided to call 911 to obtain help. Local dispatch was able to obtain GPS coordinates of their location before their phone died and provided the coordinates to officer Pullum as the only law enforcement officer with equipment sufficient to navigate the terrain. Officer Pullum responded to the area and began to search with his off-road vehicle. He located both subjects who were wet and cold, but otherwise okay.

Conservation officer Mark Reffitt followed up on a Montcalm county complaint of a deer feeder located in a wooden area behind a residence. Upon investigation, the conservation officer learned that the feeder belonged to a neighbor of the reported residence. The subject who had recently moved to Michigan from Florida, was hoping to hunt there with his son. During the opening youth hunt. Officer educated him on Michigan hunting rules while issuing him a verbal warning for baiting in a closed area. The subject and his son were ordered to remove the feeder and clean up the area around it.

Conservation officer Robert Slick was on patrol when he received a complaint of an individual fishing with too many lines in colon park. Officer Slick responded to the location and watched the angler. There were five lines out and only one angler attending to them. When the conservation officer contacted the individual, he stated that all he knew were the bag limits. Officer Slick informed him that he was only allowed three lines and that he was over. A citation was issued for the violation.

While patrolling Windsor Township State Beam area, conservation officer Marc Mankowski heard a person target shooting in a closed area and saw bullets hit the lake and trees around him. He located the shooter and it was evident that he was inexperienced and unaware of many safety precautions that should be observed while shooting, as well as the regulations in the state game area. The shooter was issued a citation.

Conservation officers, Eric Smither, Andrew Monnich and Sergeant Shane Webster were patrolling Lenawee County when they observed an off-road vehicle coming towards them on the roadway. When the operator noticed the conservation officers, they turned around and started to head back the way that they had come from. The conservation officers contacted the operator who did not have an off-road vehicle helmet. The citation was issued for no helmet to read. More conservation officer biweekly reports go to michigan.gov/conservationofficers.

Announcer:

There are many camping and lodging opportunities available in Michigan State parks. When you choose state park campgrounds, you get more than just a campsite. State parks offer a diverse range of recreational opportunities, including hands-on instructional classes, nature programs, places to fish, boat launches, family friendly events, and much more. Reservations can be made six months in advance. So why wait? Visit midnrreservations.com or call 1-800-44PARKS to make a reservation.

Rachel:

Welcome back to Wild Talk. Now let's dig into the mail bag and answer your questions.

Hannah:

Lorna emailed with a snake photo for identification and wondered how to deter snakes from her area. And this is not an uncommon question during the fall, we often get an increase in snake identification requests, and this is because young snakes are hatching, or being born late summer into early fall, and then are dispersing from those areas. Adult snakes are also moving around heading to suitable spot to hibernate for the winter months. So if you're looking for some tips to discourage snakes from your yard, we recommend keeping your lawn mowed extremely short and removing all hiding places like tall grass, brush piles, rock piles, rotten logs, shrubs, bushes, et cetera, because removing those hiding places will help discourage snakes as well as the rodents and other small animals that many of them eat.

Keep your area as open as possible and free of any natural vegetation, or manmade hiding spots and keep the grass mowed short, as I mentioned. This will make the area less appealing to the snakes and will also make it easier to see the snakes if they're passing through. And do also remember that most of Michigan snakes keep to themselves. You find a snake outside, just leave it be and let the snake move away on its own. You can learn more about Michigan snakes on the DNR website, or check out our 60 second snakes videos on the DNR YouTube channel.

Rachel:

Shay asks what options are available for deterring skunks from their property as it appears they're trying to under their porch. This time of year to keep skunks and other wildlife from getting under the porch, you may want to install a physical barrier like lattice, or wire mesh fencing, up around your deck. You may want to bury it underground just a few inches as well because skunks can dig. You'll also want to consider removing any food sources that might attract skunks in other wildlife such as bird feeders, pet foods, and ensure trash is secure. Also, keep in mind that skunks love to eat insects and they may dig up grubs in your lawn. If you're noticing there are skunks in the area and a bunch of holes dug throughout your yard, this might be what's going on. They're looking for the insects and grubs that are living under the ground. However, raccoons may also be digging for grubs, but they are more known to roll, or dig up larger patches of sod to do so.

Hannah:

Really interesting about the raccoons digging in one's yard for grubs. I went to let my dog out the other evening, turned on the outdoor lights and sitting on the edge of the driveway, it was a big fat raccoon digging around in my grass, probably looking for grubs. We've also seen more mole tunnels and activity in that part of the lawn, so there's something under there. And fall is the time of year. We see a lot of that too. So...

Rachel:

Oh yes, we have lots of mole holes right now and we suspect it's because there are some juicy slugs, or grubs, underneath the sod. While nuisance animal control companies can provide removal and if it is legal to hunt, or trap in your area, skunks may be taken year round on private property, if they are doing, or about to do damage. You can find current season dates and regulations for hunting and trapping for bearing species, including skunks at michigan.gov/trapping. Additional information on how to handle conflicts with wildlife can also be found at michigan.gov/wildlife.

Hannah:

Now I had another question that came in. Mark emails asking what the different options are for reporting a deer harvest this year. And we talked in probably great detail about that in the last episode with our guests, but just as a reminder, new this year is mandatory deer harvest reporting. You can do this online at michigan.gov/dnrharvestreport or log to e-license and report your harvest through the same system you use to buy licenses online. You can also report your harvest via our new Michigan DNR Hunt Fish mobile app. The DNR Hunt Fish app also allows you to purchase licenses, download digests and more. You can find it on the Google Play, or Apple App stores. We also have locations across the state that are available to provide you with technical assistance for reporting your harvest. You can find deer harvest reporting information, including videos, frequently asked questions, and can view reported harvest totals at michigan.gov/deer and click on the mandatory harvest reporting banner at the top of the page. And remember to hang onto your confirmation number that you will receive after submitting your harvest report.

Rachel:

Well that is helpful reminders as we wrap up the archery deer season and we begin to look at the firearm deer season, which came about so quickly. Good luck to our archery hunters who are wrapping up their seasons in the coming weeks. Well, I have a final question about, this was a really interesting question that came into us. Brian asked, "What is the largest raptor in Michigan and what have we done for their survival?" Awesome question, Brian. So the largest breeding raptor in Michigan is the bald eagle. Bald eagles nest in Michigan and can be seen across the state year round. Now the bald eagle was declared an endangered species in 1967 before the Endangered Species Act of 1973. So the chemical DDT was identified as the driver of the raptor and bald eagle population decline across North America, because the properties of the chemical thinned eggshells reducing their reproductive success.

And since the banning of DDT in 1972, we've seen bald eagles and other raptors like the osprey and the peregrine falcon rebound in Michigan and across the country. So much so that bald eagles were removed from the endangered species list in 2007. Now banning the use of lead shots in wetlands for waterfowl hunting in 1991, out of concern for the health of waterfowl, has also helped limit the amount of lead entering a habitat that bald eagles also frequent. Lead poisoning is still one of the primary causes of death for bald eagles in the US, because of how often they scavenge outside of wetlands for food. Now, lead shot can still be used for upping game bird hunting and other land-based hunting and lead weights can still be used by anglers. However, non-toxic shot alternatives are recommended.

The bald eagle is still protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act from 1940, which protects both species. In an additional note from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2019 statewide survey noted that Eagles are continuing their recovery throughout Michigan. And as of 2019 statewide surveys, there are over 1,600 nests and approximately 900 breeding territories. Now this compares to only 359 breeding territories, in 2000, and 83 territories in 1980, which is the largest expansion of eagles is occurring in the southern half of the lower peninsula where eagles are also adapting to nesting in more open and urban landscapes.

Hannah:

Now as we zip this segment to a close, remember if you have questions about wildlife or hunting, you can call 517-284WILD, or email us at DNR-Wildlife@Michigan.gov. Your question could be featured on the mail bag.

Rachel:

Now is your opportunity to win a Wild Talk podcast mug. As a thank you to our listeners, we'll be giving away a mug or two every episode.

Hannah:

Our October mug winners are Amber C. Camp and Jean Park. Check your email as we were getting in touch with you soon. They answered the question, "How many species of weasels do we have in Michigan?" And this was a tricky question. Now the answer we were looking for was three, and those are the least weasel, the ermine, and the long-tailed weasel. However, we also accepted answers that provided the total number of species in the mustelidae, or weasel family found here in Michigan, which would be eight. The Martin, the Fisher, the least weasel, the ermine, the long-tailed weasel, mink, badger, and otter. Now, sorry, no wolverines are included as they are considered extricated from the state.

Rachel:

To be entered into the drawing this month, test your wildlife knowledge and answer our quiz question. Turkeys are an example of a precocial species. What does precocial mean?

Hannah:

All right, so think on that one and email your name and answer to us at DNR-Wildlife@michigan.gov to be entered for a chance to win a mug, be sure to include the subject line as mug me and submit your answer by November 15th. We'll announce winners and the answer on next month's podcasts. So be sure to listen in and see if you've won and so you can find out what the next quiz question is.

Rachel:

Good luck now back to the show.

All right everyone that wraps up the November episode, we'll see you back here in December.

Announcer:

This has been the Wild Talk Podcast, your monthly podcast airing the first of each month in offering insights into the world of wildlife across the state of Michigan. You can reach the Wildlife Division at 517- 284-9453 or DNR-wildlife@michigan.gov.