{"id":28718,"date":"2023-02-14T15:26:53","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T19:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hvfarmhub.org\/?p=28718"},"modified":"2023-03-15T14:06:58","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T18:06:58","slug":"cover-crops-and-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hvfarmhub.org\/es\/cover-crops-and-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Cover Crops and Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will Yandik is a fourth-generation farmer with a passion for studying the connections between winter birds and farmland<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Will Yandik holds a Savannah Sparrow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

To Will Yandik<\/a>, a good morning is when the sun is shining, the winds are light, and birds are in the net. Yandik is a farmer with a passion for researching the connections between grassland birds and agriculture. Specifically, can farms provide a home for winter birds with a mix of warm-season cover crops? How can birds also use unmanaged weedy edges and switchgrass in the Prueba de pradera nativa<\/a> at the Farm Hub? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the study, he captures, bands, and monitors birds to see how frequently they use the Farm Hub as their winter home. The focus is on three species of sparrows: the American Tree (a winter visitor), a Song (a common breeder in the Northeast), and Savannah (a declining grassland species). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now in the second year of the study, the research will continue to examine whether the birds remain in the spring and whether they breed. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Sparrows may supplement their winter diet by eating the seeds of warm-season perennial grasses that can be planted by farmers to increase carbon sequestration in their soils.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Yandik is studying to see if the birds that overwinter in these habitats remain in place to breed. We know from dozens of studies that birds that breed close to their wintering grounds often get a head start on nesting. The warm season mix includes mainly Sorghum sudangrass, Sun Hemp, and Teff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmers typically plant a variety of cover crops in the summer and mow them down in the autumn. As part of the research, the Farm Hub\u2019s production team has left the warm season cover crop mix standing through the winter and mowed in the early spring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt often costs the farmer nothing to delay mowing–and can provide a quality temporary winter habitat for sparrows, hawks, and raptors, as well as many rodent-hunting mammals,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year Yandik has added color banding to the mix. The unique color combination of the bands makes the birds easy to spot without having to capture them thus saving time. There are three color bands, one on the bird’s right leg and two on the left leg. As the bird perches or forages on the ground the leg bands become visible in unique color combinations that enable the observer (with binoculars) to identify the individual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s tricky in large open spaces to get a bird to fly in my little net, so if we can get a color band on it and we are able to respot it, we can identify uniquely that individual without having to put it in your hand.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process of capturing and banding birds is intricate involving setting up the mist nets, fine and feathery nets that are near invisible to the naked eye \u2014 a centuries old invention used by hunters in Japan. Yandik swiftly retrieves the captured birds gathering details of vitals including tarsus (leg) length, its weight, and the amount of fat on the bird to assess its health. His hands red and raw he jots down vitals with pencil on notebook (later to be logged into the computer). The banded sparrow is then set free.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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