Cover crops for the birds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Providing a bird habitat has been added to the list of benefits that cover crops offer to the farmland.

Michael Ward, University of Illinois associate professor of natural resources and environmental sciences and Illinois Natural History Survey avian ecologist; Rich Kirchenfaut, Gibson City area farmer; and Brodie Dunn, U of I graduate student, spoke of their work and the impact of cover crops, wildlife and integrated pest management in a recent Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction podcast.

Michael Ward

Ward noted his research includes a focus on the impact of cover crops on migratory birds.

What is the relationship between cover crops and bird habitat?

Ward: “Obviously, cover crops are becoming much more common throughout the state, so we wanted to understand what the relative value that cover crops are to migratory birds. Most of our birds in Illinois are migratory. They’re not spending the winter in Illinois, and when they come back a lot of them are coming back in March. As you drive across Illinois in March, agriculture fields are pretty much void of vegetation.

“The advent for cover crops, which obviously have benefits for soil health and retaining nitrogen for farmers, also provide cover for a lot of our birds that are arriving this time of year. Most of these are not breeding yet. They’re just migratory birds, but they need a place to find a few insects, to get out of the wind and keep away of predators.

“If you get a good crop of cereal rye out there, it can really be a godsend for some of these migratory birds that are trying to make their way back to a place to breed and not stuck over an area where there’s not much cover.”

Can bird habitats in cover crops play a role in pest management?

Ward: “If you keep healthy bird populations around, they keep some of the crop pests in line. A lot of them are eating pests, insects, moths, corn rootworm beetles and those kinds of things that are potentially contributing to some crop loss.

“There’s great work in orchards in the southern areas where if you promote bird populations you really reduce some of the insect damage.”

Can there be any issues when the cover crop habitats are terminated?

Ward: “Yes, there is. We are starting a new project this year with the Department of Natural Resources looking at cover crop fields on DNR property. In our cover crops research, there are wide variations in when farmers want to terminate. Some are very eager to get out there and they’re terminating the end of March, while others are not in such a big rush and they’re not terminating until May.

“It’s a complex situation. The longer it goes, the more it provides habitat for migratory birds. The flip side of that is if you go way into May then the birds are thinking the habitat is going to be there and they should start breeding.

“So, we have birds starting to nest there and the next thing we know you’ll go through and spray it with Roundup and start working the land to plant the cash crop and those nests get destroyed. We call that an ecological trap.

“So, there’s probably a sweet spot in there where it’s good for migratory birds, but we don’t go long enough to start tricking birds into trying to breed and waste all of their energy and resources into breeding at a site where they’re not going to be able to reproduce.”

Do cover crops attract a wider diversity of species?

Ward: “Yes, in traditional agriculture for sure. In the research we did a couple of years ago, several species that migrate through Illinois are there. There were a lot more meadowlarks, a lot more sparrows. We work with producers and the average producer doesn’t really know the differences between some of these birds, but some are very interested and go out with us.

“I think a lot of them are really struck by the fact that I can point to a bird and tell them that a month ago that bird was in South America and it’s stopping in this field because you have a little bit of habitat on its way to breed in the northern part of Alaska.

“There’s a lot more diversity in cover crop fields than I think people realize. It’s a good example of just a different agricultural practice that has obvious benefits on the agronomy side can also benefit these birds.”

Do you have any advice for producers or landowners who are interested in increasing the bird activity on their properties and using cover crops?

Ward: “We found that cereal rye which happens to be, in my understanding, the most popular cover crop that might provide the most benefit in terms of sequestering nitrogen is also the best cover crop for wildlife. I know there’s crimson clover, turnips and other types of cover crops that we’ve worked with, but it didn’t seem like the wildlife used that as much. They really like cereal rye. The earlier you get it planted, the more growth you get in the fall and there’s more structure there in the spring, we see wildlife using that more.

“My advice is, there are a lot of groups out there — NRCS and private organizations — that promote these cover crops and getting cereal rye out there could be a benefit from a nutrient perspective and also it’s going to benefit wildlife.”

Rich Kirchenfaut

Kirchenfaut was previously a “typical conservation tillage farmer with chisel plowing corn stalks, cultivating in the spring and disking soybean stubble.”

When did you start using cover crops?

Kirchenfaut: “We started with the cover crops approximately seven years ago experimenting with cereal rye. We had a compacted farm and tried to loosen up the soil a little bit, so we spread the cereal rye with the potash on the corn stalks after harvest and it did a really fine job at loosening the soil, but also helped control some of the waterhemp and marestail that we had issues with on that particular farm.

“That kind of led us down the path of no-till and cover crops and soil health and started opening up our eyes as to the benefits that each of these things brought. It was quite a large learning curve so we took it one step at a time. We had some success stories and like anybody else it didn’t always work like it was supposed to and sometimes it didn’t go so well. But we learned from our mistakes and keep moving forward.”

What sparked your interest in using cover crops as a bird habitat on your farm?

Kirchenfaut: “The cover crops opened the door into the bird habitat. As a result of the increased use of cover crops came the insects. They were able to overwinter and survive with more flowering plants and the diversity of plants that we had out there. We saw an increase of beetles, crickets, spiders, and it was out of concern of some of the pests that could possibly overwinter that took us to an even further expansion of our types of cover crops that we used.

“So, we wanted to do an integrated pest management program, increase the habitat of the beneficial insects in hopes to control any potential pests that may arise such as slugs or armyworms. We started using some native species, some grasses and forbs. They started off just a buffer strips, but once we realized that we had flowering plants and the increased variety of plants and a living root system in the ground year-round, we saw huge increases in insect populations. And at the same time we started noticing an increase in bird populations.”

What advice do you have for farmers or landowners who are interested in increasing bird activity, species and diversity within their farm by using cover crops?

Kirchenfaut: “It takes time. It is possible to have the profitability and the changes, but it just takes time for the soil to heal itself, it takes time for the insects to rebound, it takes time for the birds to come. It’s baby steps, but as long as we keep moving forward, I think the rewards are well worth the effort. It’s not something you’re going to see a quick response in one year, but it’s over a period of several years of improved habitat overall to bring larger numbers.”

Brodie Dunn

Dunn’s interest in his graduate studies includes the relationship between cover crops and birds. Dunn and U of I entomologist Nick Seiter worked with Kirchenfaut on his farm to identify the birds and insects.

How do things change when looking at bird populations in cover crops?

Dunn: “The difference between cover crops and no cover crops is pretty staggering. When I was doing my bird surveys I could walk into a non-cover crop field, I would do my five-minute survey and I’d be sitting there with my pin and binoculars for the entire five minutes and write nothing down. Then I would drive a quarter mile down the road to the next field that had cover crops and I would fill up the entire sheet in five minutes. I would barely be able to keep up with the number of birds that were out there.”

How does it change over the seasons?

Dunn: “We have a huge flux of birds that come in the spring and fall and that coincides with the migratory season. Apart from that we have seasonal birds that are with us in the summer and with us in the winter and we would call those resident birds.”