Ring‐necked pheasant nest site selection in a landscape with high adoption of fall‐seeded cover crops

Abstract

AbstractGrasslands provide important nesting cover for ring‐necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus), but they have been largely reduced with intensification of row‐cropping systems, resulting in population declines for pheasants and other grassland birds across the U.S. Row‐crop intensification and landscape homogenization has had negative impacts on environmental health, and agronomic practices such as fall‐seeded cover crops seek to ameliorate some of the environmental issues. Whether fall‐seeded cover crops provide additional benefits to wildlife, such as creating nesting cover for pheasants, remains unknown. We used radio telemetry and nest searches in 365, 0.4‐ha² plots during summer of 2019 and 2020 in 3 cover types including fall‐seeded cover crops, native warm season grasses, and cool season grasses to examine nest site selection by pheasants in the agricultural dominated landscape of Washington County, Iowa. We examined nest site selection at 3 spatial scales based on cover type and specific vegetation attributes to understand factors influencing nest site selection. Highest nest densities were found in native warm season grass (0.59 nests/ha, 95% CI = 0.41–0.86), while pheasants nested at low densities in cool season grass fields (0.03 nests/ha, 95% CI = 0.00–0.21) and cover crop fields (0.03 nests/ha, 95% CI = 0.01–0.12). Most nest‐site selection occurred at the landscape level (second order) and patch level (third order) and was influenced by percent litter cover (second order) and visual obstruction or vegetation density (third order). Our findings suggest that cover crops may make minor improvements in nesting cover availability but are unlikely to replicate the needs for nesting cover provided by perennial grasslands in working landscapes and thus have little potential to reverse long‐term population declines.