The Michigan DNR's Wildtalk Podcast

Southwest Michigan habitat, bird declines and backyard predators

• Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division • Season 6 • Episode 2

Share episode

In this episode of the Wildtalk Podcast, we talk to John Niewoonder about all things habitat in Southwest Michigan, fly away with a discussion about what can be done concerning bird population declines as we talk all things feathered, and dive into fox and coyote conflict prevention tips in our all things fur segment. 

Episode Hosts: Hannah Schauer and Rachel Leightner
Producer/editor: Eric Hilliard

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

Announcer:

The Michigan DNR Hunt/Fish app is your digital connection to all things hunting and fishing in Michigan. Buy, store, and display your hunting and fishing licenses, check your points and chances for elk and bear, apply for the draw, and view drawing results. Access all the hunting and fishing regulations, view your Hunter Safety Certificate, and report your harvest all from within the Michigan DNR Hunt/Fish app. Just click the app banner at the top of the page for download instructions at michigan.gov/hunting.

You know what that sound means? It's time for the Michigan DNR's Wildtalk podcast. Welcome to the Wildtalk podcast, where representatives from the DNR'S Wildlife Division chew the fat and shoot the scat about all things habitat brothers in 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.

Hannah:

Welcome to Wildtalk. I'm your host Hannah Schauer, and with me today, as always, is the lovely Rachel Leightner.

Rachel:

Hi, Hannah. This episode, we'll be talking about work happening in Southwest Michigan. We'll talk about late goose hunting opportunities in February, and how you can prevent potential conflicts with fox and coyotes.

Hannah:

And later in the show, we will of course announce the winners of our Wildtalk podcast mugs, and then you can find out how you can win one too. Now, to kick things off with All Things Habitat, so stick around.

Speaker 5:

Trees provide for the wellbeing of our state. That's why we work so hard to keep our forest healthy and abundant, so wildlife has a home, and so do people, so that there's clean air and water for everyone. And Michigan's economy can be as strong as the trees that support it, because every branch of forestry ensures that future generations will always have a tree for life, and forests for a lifetime. To learn how sustainable forestry benefits your life, visit michigan.gov/forestsforalifetime.

Rachel:

Field Operations Manager, John Nielander, is joining us on the show today to chat about the happenings in the Southwest region. Thanks for joining us today, John.

John:

Good morning, glad to be here.

Rachel:

What's the biggest project your region's been working on this time of year?

John:

Well, our Wildlife Division staff always has a lot of stuff going on. Does depend on the time of year. We're coming off the holidays, but before that we were really focused on CWD surveillance, and deer check, and all that stuff, just like most of our staff. In January, we tend to do a lot of meetings and trainings, but we really focus on our compartment review process, which has the same name, but it's a little different than what they do up on the state forest with Forest Resource Division. Basically, this helps us to get together within our region to plan what we're doing for the year in a specific compartment, a part of a State Game Area.

We gather together, the biologist for each field office coordinates the meeting. We invite most of our local biologists and also supervisors. We invite some of the non-Wildlife Division folks. We get some fisheries' participation. Conservation District folks often attend. We almost always have someone there from the Michigan Natural Features inventory. Our forester is almost always there, so we get a little internal discussion, wildlife talk that we always have, but we get some outside people to take a look in on what we're doing.

Hannah:

Yeah, it sounds like a really comprehensive approach to making sure everything's taken care of and that these lands are really well maintained. Do you do compartment reviews for every state game area in your region?

John:

We do. There's a rotation that we go through, so we try to hit every compartment. Some of our game areas are less than 1,000 acres, so that would be one compartment. One of our game areas is over 50,000 acres. That's broken up into a whole bunch of compartments and they usually range from three to 6,000 acres probably each, and we rotate through. We definitely want to hit every compartment at least once every 10 years, and usually we do it on a quicker cycle than that.

Hannah:

Are there opportunities for public involvement or public input in the compartment review process?

John:

We used to do open houses, and nobody would come. We would put it out to the public and that was when we would complete a game area master plan. We sometimes would rent a space in a library building or a township hall or something. We'd set them up, we'd reserve them and we would get nobody. We still do that public review period for the game areas, but now it's an online thing. I think Rachel, you've been involved with that once. When we update or write a new master plan, that is when we do that. We have a period of time where people can look at the document and comment and we incorporate that into the master plan in the final review.

Hannah:

Have there been any impressive accomplishments or contributions made this quarter that you'd like to highlight for us?

John:

December, January, February and part of March are usually our most active forest management time. We try to do most of our forest management timber sales on frozen ground to minimize soil disturbance and all that. Traditionally, that's when we start them December 1 and go through mid-March. Becoming a little bit problematic with our changing weather. We don't have frozen ground a lot. If we have warm spells like we're having this month, it gets real messy out there because we got a lot of moisture, we got rain melting snow.

The logging equipment can handle that, but it makes a mess. They have huge tires and tons of ground clearance and big diesel motors. They can do what they need to do, but if we let them just go, they will cause a lot of erosion and destroy trails and cause ruts, so we don't do that. We shut them down. Which is tough, because they're trying to get in and out and get their work done and we're there slowing them down just to protect the resource. Almost always they understand because they see the mess that's happening and they don't want to do that either. We do make money on our timber sales, but the primary focus is to improve habitat.

Hannah:

Out of curiosity, are there any specific areas where some of this forest management activity is going on right now that people might notice equipment out and about?

John:

It's really all over. Like I said, this is the busy time for that. Most of our big game areas like Allegan and Barry State Game Area and Flat River State Game Area and Muskegon State Game Area, they have logging occurring almost every year on a relatively small scale. The other ones are smaller in size, so we don't cut there every year. Maybe it might be every five years we get to some of those. Some game areas, we really never get to basically because they're small and out of the way. Or because they consist of a forest type that doesn't need any treatments at this time.

Hannah:

Well, thank you so much John for outlining some of the work going on in the southwest region. We appreciate you taking the time to tell us about it.

John:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

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:

North America has lost nearly 3 billion birds since 1970 according to a study published in the Journal of Science in 2019. That is roughly one in four birds in North America. Furthermore, more than half of all U.S. Birds are in decline.

Hannah:

Birds play a vital role in the natural world and in our everyday lives. They are important pollinators, seed dispersers, food web contributors, ecosystem health promoters, and provide positive physical and mental health benefits to people, and economic benefits to communities as bird watching continues to be a growing pastime.

Rachel:

The staggering loss of bird diversity impacts food webs, ecosystems, water quality, and people. Now habitat loss and degradation remain the biggest threat to forest dwelling bird populations, which have declined by 1.2 billion since the '70s. Climate change and invasive species contribute to the decline as well.

Hannah:

But there are actions we can take to combat such decline. The forestry for Michigan Birds Initiative was established to help landowners and forest managers make decisions about how to manage their forests with birds in mind because growing healthy forests will lead to healthier birds.

Rachel:

The initiative recently released a forest owner's guide to forestry for Michigan birds, which is essentially a guiding document to help landowners learn more about how to create and protect bird habitat within their forests. In the guide you'll learn about different Michigan bird species, the habitat components they require, and how to assess what your forest offers birds so that you can take action to reach your forest management goals.

Hannah:

Keep in mind, a single tree can provide the necessary nesting, feeding, or breeding sites for birds. So whether you have a backyard with a few trees or your own hundreds of forested acres, there are choices you can make to help birds in your area and these guides can teach you how to start.

Rachel:

If you're interested in learning more, you can find the guides and learn more about the Forestry for Michigan Birds Initiative, visit the link in our show notes.

Hannah:

Now before we wrap up our feathered segment, I wanted to remind everyone that waterfowl hunting for the season is winding down, but there are a few opportunities that remain for some late goose hunting in the south zone. February 4th through the 13th is open in the south zone for goose hunting. The Allegan County Goose Management Unit is open through February 13th. If you want to get out for one last chance at some goose hunting, be sure to review the waterfowl hunting regulations in the Waterfowl Digest. You can find the Waterfowl Digest online at michigan.gov/waterfowl, or download a copy right to your phone using the new Michigan DNR Hunt/Fish mobile app. Visit michigan.gov/hunting to find out more about the mobile app or look for it on the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Now, stay tuned for All Things Fur.

Announcer:

Find a new fishing spot. The family friendly fishing waters map shows family friendly fishing locations across the state that are easy to access and have a high likelihood of catching fish. You can filter locations by what type of fish you want to catch or whether you want to fish from a boat, a pier, or the shore. You can even filter by amenities like swimming availability and restrooms as well as entry fees that may apply. To find out more, click on Family Friendly Fishing Waters@michigan.gov/fishing.

Rachel:

Things are getting hair raising in February for foxes and coyotes as we're in the midst of their breeding season.

Hannah:

This time of year, you are very likely to see and hear an increase in activity if you have foxes or coyotes in your area. Pairs will likely be very vocal in announcing where their established territory is.

Rachel:

Young foxes and coyotes won't be born until the spring, but now is a good time to take preventative actions if you had a den site in your area in the past, or if you usually see increased coyote or fox activity during the spring and summer months.

Hannah:

The best place to start to make your area less appealing to foxes and coyotes is to look for potential attractions, especially food sources. Foxes and coyotes prefer small mammals, particularly rabbits, hare, mice, moles, squirrels, and they may also eat small birds, reptiles, amphibians, and occasionally berries when they're available.

Rachel:

Quite the varietal diet they have now. Keeping a fox or coyote's diet in mind can help you notice if your area holds any potential food sources. Small mammals and birds may be attracted to the area if there are bird feeders available or brush piles, tall grasses, fields, thicket shrubs, those kinds of things. Thus, they potentially attract their predators like a fox and coyote to the area as well.

Hannah:

If you have bird or wildlife feeders out and notice an increase in fox or coyote activity in your area, you might consider removing those feeders to make the area less appealing to potential prey as well as the fox and coyotes. Trash or pet food left out, especially overnight, can also be an at attractant. So be sure to remove these or make them inaccessible.

Rachel:

Hazing or intentionally scaring coyotes or foxes can be done to discourage them from the area. Now using hazing methods such as yelling or making loud noises in conjunction with removal of those attractants can make coyotes or fox less likely to frequent the area.

Hannah:

If you have small dogs or cats, keep them indoors or accompany them outdoors, especially at night. Keep them on a leash, particularly if you notice coyotes or fox in the area. If you have a backyard flock of chickens, take precautions to protect them from predators using fencing and keeping them in a coop overnight. I had a sneaky fox that found its way under the fence of my chickens this summer, so as a reminder, you'll want to check your fencing regularly for potential issues.

Rachel:

For more tips on handling conflicts with fox, coyote, or other wildlife species, visit michigan.gov/wildlife. We also have a video covering a variety of hazing methods for coyotes available on the DNR'S YouTube channel. You can give that a look for some additional techniques. For more information on hunting or trapping seasons for fox or coyote, visit michigan.gov/trapping.

Announcer:

Michigan.gov/dnrtrails is your destination for trail maps, trail etiquette and trail closure information. Trail information for biking, cross country skiing, horseback riding, hiking, off-road vehicle riding, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, and even water trails for kayaking and canoeing are available. While you're there, remember to check out information about pet pet-friendly recreation, track chairs in the Iron Bell Trail. All available at michigan.gov/dnrtrails.

Rachel:

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

Hannah:

Our January mug winners are Katie Haffner and Marilyn Creswell. Check your email as we'll be getting in touch with you soon. They answered the question, "What is a physical characteristic you can use to identify a male box turtle versus a female box turtle?" Now the answer we were looking for was eye color, as it is an easy way to tell them apart quickly. Males have a red iris and females have a brown to yellowish colored iris. However, other key differences include the rear of the male's plastron, or the bottom of the shell, which is concave, and the tail is slightly longer and thicker than a female's. Males also have a thicker and more curved claws. So we accepted those answers as well.

Rachel:

Now, to be entered into the drawing this month, test your wildlife knowledge and answer our wildlife quiz question. What is the breeding habitat for the Kirtland's Warbler?

Hannah:

All right, so. You know the drill. 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 February 15th. We'll announce winners and the answer on the next month's podcast, so be sure to listen in and see if you've won and to find out what the next quiz question will be.

Rachel:

Good luck everyone.

Announcer:

Michigan conservation officers are working hard to protect and keep the outdoors safe for current and future generations. If you witness a natural resources violation, you can call or text the report all poaching hotline 24 hours a day at 1-800-292-7800, or fill out the complaint form available at michigan.gov/rap. If you would like more information on becoming a conservation officer, click on become a CO at michigan.gov/conservationofficers.

Hannah:

Thanks for joining us on this February edition of the Wildtalk Podcast. Remember, if you have questions about wildlife or hunting, you can call 517-284-WILD. Or email us at dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov. We'll see you back here in March.

Announcer:

This has been the Wildtalk Podcast, your monthly podcast airing the first of each month and 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.