Will the snow holding off benefit the birds?

[sightfisher]

It seems that the snow is holding off more than it has the last couple years. Does the delayed 'inevitable blanket of old man winter' benefit the birds, or in the end does it all come down to whatever happens during the coldest and snowiest periods of the season? With all the reports of young birds being seen so late in the season I'd like to hope that we may carry more of a sustainable population than anticipated several months back. If there is one silver lining this year it seems that the awareness and critical importance of winter cover, and proper management, has really been udriven home. I just hope this manifests itself into better habitat throughout the region; especially considering the fearful trend of a lot of prairie returning to the plow with the rising price yield from crops and the impending decrease of funding to CRP and similar programs. Don't worry I performed all superstitious tasks possible to prevent myself from jinxing the full force of winter into arriving too soon.

[gspman]

Yes, any delay in snow and cold helps. The milder the better.

[BobT]

That would be my thought. It is my understanding that pheasants don't do well when there is a lot of snow. I think it reduces their ability to find shelter from the elements and predators and covers their food supply.

[creepworm]

Cold, a lot of snow, snow that has a hard crust, and an ice storm are all bad for pheasants

[pureinsanity]

In my opinion a delay in the snow helps yes, but it doesn't mean the birds are out of danger just yet.

The amount of snow at one time is a BIG factor when it comes to pheasants. They tend to burrow down into some cover. Nice and warm for them with snow insulating them. However, when we get large amounts of snow like we did a few storms last year, the pheasants are doomed. The pheasants get buried alive, then they suffocate.

Unless they have a food source such as a crib feeder, pheasants have to scavenge and dig in the snow to find food. With extreme depths the birds just wont find food.

Like someone else said hard crusted snow, extreme cold, ice storms, and I will add WIND all play a factor.

So I do agree a delay in show helps, BUT, really what we need is low snow accumulations, mild cold and wind.

[brittman]

Last year much of the pheasant range had ice crusted snow over most fields by mid-November. By mid December most pheasant hunters that stayed with it were using snow shoes. Could not have been much worse for this time of year. An average or mild winter followed by a decent spring ? One can only hope.

[Jarrod32]

Pheasants can claw down and dig through a lot of snow to get to food...but if it is hard-crusted snow, or if there is a layer of ice, then it becomes difficult for them to dig through.

As was mentioned earlier, a large snowfall can trap them under to much snow and you can have some killed off during such an event.

But much more important, IMO, than the winter is the weather during the spring/early summer breeding season. A wet spring - like we had earlier this year - causes more problems than a harsh winter.

[brittman]

Weather

Harsh winter reduces number of nesting hens and the condition the hens are in as they begin to nest.

Harsh spring/early summer will reduce the number of successful 1st nests and will lower the number of chicks in each brood. Less broods and less chicks per brood results in fewer young birds in the fall flock.

Real wet late summer reduces the success of 2nd nesting attempts.

Cover

CRP and WMA/WPAs provide larger continuous blocks of cover that typically result in higher nesting success (both number of nests per acre and percentage of successful nests).

Road ditchs and other narrow cover provides decent nesting cover (if not mowed too early). Predators often move along these narrow grassy corridores and can more easily find the nests.

[muc33]

In extreme SW Mn we got some grossly needed moisture in the form of rain yesterday, it did nothing good for my ice, but surely didn't hurt for anything else as we were very very very dry. This and no snow is giving those really young birds a better chance so far, we have a long ways to go, but anything we get at this point is help.

[harvey lee]

Every day we go with no or very little snow cover will benefit the wildlife.

With that said, one bad blizzard or a sleet storm can still do alot of damage to the birds.

Let's hope each day we get another with no snow cover and then it is up to a good spring for a great hatch.

This winter is starting out to be exactly what the doctor ordered for all of our wildlife.

[fivebucks]

It is a good Christmas present that's for sure

[motley man]

Some snow cover is good for birds as they go under drifts and grass that is matted around ponds, fields etc. to get out of the wind & cold.

[lawdog]

A mild winter and if we hit a good spring on the back end and we will all be very pleasantly surprised how much of a rebound our beloved ringnecks can make! They only need a couple good years to really bounce back strong (assuming every inch of cover isn't plowed up in the meantime...).

[TylerS]

(assuming every inch of cover isn't plowed up in the meantime...).

That right there is the kicker!!! All the mild winters in the world won't bring birds back for long if they don't have a place to live.

[Dotch]

True. Would be nice if this land price-corn price thing straightens out soon. It's doing no one any real favors including the pheasants. One factor though that no one has mentioned is the relative abundance of feed out here that to this point remains accessible. With the dry windy conditions, the fall of 2011 was great for ear droppage and shelling at the head. When soil sampling this past fall the amount of corn on the ground was incredible even after fields had been worked. Some farmers are going to be amazed at how much volunteer corn shows up next year in the beans. Same was true with soybeans when the moistures dropped from 12% to 7% - 8% in a matter of 2 - 3 days. While the birds can't metabolize them fully, it's surprising how many soybeans one finds in their crops sometimes. There are still some birds around our neighborhood. With all the cover remaining open and readily available food, they have no reason to come up in our yard as they did last year. Some forecasters are indicating the weather may turn on us and be uglier after mid-January. Let's hope they're wrong.