Management of Agricultural Landscapes for the Conservation of Neotropical Migratory Birds

Thirty-eight Neotropical migrants are common in the agricultural landcapes of the Midwest. Most of these species depend on herbaceous or wooded habitats, which are declining as the average size of farms in this region increases about 12% per decade. We recommend minimizing cultivation; encouraging moderate grazing; delaying spring mowing of hayfields, grassed waterways, and roadsides; avoiding nighttime mowing; encouraging longer intervals between mowing; avoiding fall mowing and annual mowing of grassed waterways and roadsides; retaining fencelines along roadsides; maintaining idle land that provide nesting cover; and changing the amount and configuration of idle land to enhance species richness and nesting success.

Koford, Rolf R. and Louis B. Best.  1996.  Management of agricultural landscapes 
     for the conservation of Neotropical migratory birds.  Pages 68-88 in 
     Frank R. Thompson, III, ed.  Management of agricultural landscapes for the 
     conservation of Neotropical migratory birds.  U.S. Forest Service, General 
     Technical Report.  NC - 187.  North Central Forest Experiment Station, 
     St. Paul, MN.

Koford, Rolf R. and Louis B. Best.  1996.  Management of agricultural landscapes 
     for the conservation of Neotropical migratory birds.  Pages 68-88 in 
     Frank R. Thompson, III, ed.  Management of agricultural landscapes for the 
     conservation of Neotropical migratory birds.  U.S. Forest Service, General 
     Technical Report.  NC - 187.  North Central Forest Experiment Station, 
     St. Paul, MN.  Jamestown, ND: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online.  
     http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/habitat/landscap/index.htm
     (Version 16JUL97).

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Recent Changes in Agricultural Habitats and Landscape Structure
  • Cropland Habitats
  • Non-Cropland Habitats
• Effects of Land-Use Practices on NTMBs
  • Cultivation
  • Chemical Application
  • Grazing
  • Haying
  • Idling Cropland
  • Maintaining Strip Cover
• Conservation Strategies
  • Objectives
  • General Framework
  • Specific Recommendations
• Literature Cited

¹ Iowa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011
² Department of Animal Ecology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011

Acknowledgments

We thank Bonnie Bowen, James Herkert, Douglas Johnson, Nicholas Rodenhouse, Frank Thompson, and Richard Warner for reviewing earlier drafts of this paper. Journal Paper No. J-16882 of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa, Project No. 3300, and supported by Hatch Act and State of Iowa funds.