If it appears we excessively dwell on grass within our habitat descriptions it is not a compulsive behavior it is the recognition that good hunting only results from good habitat in the right region inclusive of other environmental limiting factors. These are the reasons why quail and pheasant are not found everywhere in the USA and within the region where they are why they are present in variable densities or not at all. Within the central mid-west grass is the primary year round habitat for our upland birds of choice, pheasant and quail. In the case of this article we describe two types of grass with one being highly beneficial and the other highly degrading to all ground nesting birds. This is a Fescue pasture planted longer ago than can be remembered. Fescue is bad for all ground dwelling birds as it grows thick, at this height it lays back down on itself and tangles. The reason it is bad for ground dwelling birds is that they can not move through it due to how thick it grows, the leaf while long is also wide, tough and that it tangles within its neighboring plants. While adult turkey can walk over it they prefer not to. Adult pheasant and quail cannot move through it and any hatchlings that get caught in it are simply left behind as the adults move on.
The picture at right shows the thickness of the grass is strong enough to cover the first 18 inches of this 5 foot rule with the tops of the grass in excess of 24 inches. This grass after a drenching down pour or after a snow will lay all the way to the ground and become a soft carpet of grass easily walked across and providing absolutely no cover or food value to any wildlife. This field does not have any quail or pheasant within it. In contrast the next grass is what we like to see for our upland birds. Now having said that about Fescue there are examples when Fescue will contribute to ground nesting bird populations under very specific circumstances and not as a general rule as stated above.
Fescue will allow the movement and reproduction of ground nesting birds to include quail under two observed conditions. The first is show in the picture above. In this case the Fescue pasture is on very poor soil and even Fescue will not grow well, but it will grow better than some other grasses providing ground level cover. In this filed much of the open spaces between the grass is filled in with thinly stemmed lespedeza giving a long winter time sustainable food source. Even though this filed looks as thick as Fescue will grow anywhere a covey has this field within its home range. The second condition a Fescue field will allow for ground nesting birds to reproduce is within an active pasture where the cattle will keep the Fescue short. Even within the best pastures fence lines, creek bottoms, tree falls, etc., will allow for areas of higher grass away from cattle forage allowing for ground cover within and about the closely cropped pasture area. Quail more than other birds such as pheasant or turkey will use these areas especially during years covey populations expand. |
What value Fescue has is the reason for its pasture planting and that is cows eat it while horse and deer do not. It is also very resilient under hoof and for pasture grass it is pioneering, meaning it will spread on its own checked only by the summer long shade of a tree line or the hard pack soil of a road. Even at these limits the airborne seed or the seed dropped from haying will invade alfalfa, clover, brome and any other sun lit field.
