eNews
Vol. 4 | No. 4 | June 2011
June Management Recommendations
Fire Ecology
- Supervise smoke from logging piles, and take extra caution to contain pile fires during these dry conditions.
- Conduct post-burn evaluations to determine success of woody control.
Forestry
- Finish timber harvests and clean up operations by mid to end of June.
- Avoid having heavy equipment in the woods when soils are wet.
- Where adequate longleaf cone crops are present continue conducting burns to capture seed fall that will occur later in the year. Some regrowth of understory vegetation will lower seed predation by providing some cover for seed.
Game Bird
- Continue to supplemental feed at 1 to 2 bu/ac/yr. Adjust as necessary given weather conditions.
- Nest predator management if needed.
- Begin to mow roads as needed.
- Begin herbicide applications for bicolor and bahia grass control.
Land Management
- Continue treating cogon grass infestations as weather permits.
- Disk strips to encourage the production of Florida pussley, a highly preferred deer forage.
- Get soil tests for fall food plots at least once every two years.
- Continue planting summer food plots.
- Apply lime according to soil test results.
- In most parts of Florida, June is usually the last month to plant aeschynomene (joint vetch), to achieve adequate reseeding in November.
Vertebrate Ecology
- Leaving dead trees or snags provides valuable habitat for cavity nesters
- One of the loudest songsters in our Pinewoods this time of year is the elusive Bachman’s Sparrow. This endemic sparrow is abundant on sites burned within the past 12 months, but its numbers can be almost halved on sites coming into a 2-year rough. The Bachman’s Sparrow is often thought to have one of the prettiest songs of any songbird, and to hear an example, simply follow this link: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/ornithology/sounds.htm
- Lots of fledgling birds wandering the woods. Many use small brushy thickets, so hold off on mowing until late August if possible. Also a good time to keep cats in doors.
- Gopher tortoise nesting reaches a peak in early June. Watch for females laying eggs and consider nest protection and predator-proof fencing.
- Female free-tailed bats give birth to a single pup from May to June.
- Pine snakes lay 5–12 large eggs in a burrow during June or July. The young hatch a couple of months later and start to look for mice and other rodents.
July Management Recommendations
Fire Ecology
- If the rains return and prescribed burning is allowed, focus burning efforts on sites with native ground cover. Old field vegetation does not burn well unless the fuel composition is greater than 25% grass cover.
- Conduct post-burn evaluations to determine success of woody control.
Forestry
- Conduct survival checks on planted pines.
- Avoid thinning and logging operations during wet weather.
Game Bird
- Supplemental feed at 1-2 bu/ac/yr.
- Nest predator management if needed.
- Mow roads.
Land Management
- Plant chufas.
- Plant millet for dove food plots.
- Planting by mid-month is usually considered the best time to have most types of millet ready just before the October first phase of dove season in Florida.
- Continue planting other summer food plots.
Vertebrate Ecology
- It’s hot, but the early phase of shorebird migration occurs later this month with early records for Spotted Sandpipers.
- Fledgling red-cockaded woodpeckers start looking for roost cavities to use at night beginning in late July.
- Early flowering of some fall flowers commences in late July and will start to attract native butterflies.
- Fox squirrels initiate a full tail molt during July-August
- Second fox squirrel litters can be initiated in July and August. Older females in good physical condition usually produce litters of 2-5 young twice each year when food supplies are good.
- Eastern diamondbacks give live birth to 10-14 young between July and October, but females may not breed every year.