Three Weeks for Dreamwidth: Grasses and Sedges for Birds

[ysabetwordsmith]

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth runs April 25-May 15. This year, I'll be posting about birds in honor of birdfeeding. Today's topic is Grasses and Sedges for Birds.




Grasses define one major category of bird habitat, grasslands, which include prairies, savannas, and other variations. North America includes a wide range of grasslands, of which the biggest portion were once tallgrass prairie and shortgrass prairie. Much of that has been destroyed to make croplands, or even cities full of pavement, to the great detriment of grassland birds and everything else that once lived there. Most remnant prairies are small (less than 12 acres) and isolated. Restoration projects are often somewhat larger. All sizes are useful to wildlife. Larger sites will attract larger species, but even a small patch will attract grass-loving insects, birds, and small mammals such as rabbits. It doesn't even have to be a fussy ground-up restoration: just letting grass grow tall, and installing some native species, will quickly attract wildlife even if it's not as good as a more thorough restoration. Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.

3 BILLION BIRDS LOST

Best Management Practices for Shortgrass Prairie Birds: A Landowner’s Guide - Colorado

Birds of Illinois and the Midwest United States by Jeff Bryant

The Bradley Method: An interesting approach for control of invasive plants (costs only time, not cash)

Field Management Guidelines For Grassland Birds - Virginia

A Guide to Small Scale Prairie Restoration: How to grow your own patch of native prairie - Saskatchewan

Going Native: A prairie restoration handbook for Minnesota Landowners (for projects up to 20 acres)

Grand Diversity Prairie Seed Mix (mixed height, heavy on wildflowers)

Grassland Birds - Michigan

Great Plains Birds

Managing Habitat for Grassland Birds - Audubon New York

Native Grasses (individual species)

Native Plant Seed Mixes (various western habitats)

Prairie Restoration: The Prairie Garden

Prairie Restorations - Michigan

Prairie Types Guide

Regional Native Grass Seed Mixes

Restoring Your Degraded Grassland to Conservation Prairie

Seed Mix Enhancements (all wildflowers)

Seed Mixes - Praire Moon

Seed Mixes for Dry Sandy Soil

Shortgrass Dry Sand Prairie Seed Mix (grasses and wildflowers)

Shortgrass Echinacea Prairie Seed Mix (grasses and wildflowers with lots of coneflowers)

Shortgrass Prairie Grass Seed Mix (grasses only)

Shortgrass Prairie Seed Mix for Medium Soils (grasses and wildflowers)

Tall Prairie for Dry Soils (grasses and wildflowers; ideal for wild turkey, pheasant, and other grassland birds)

Tall & Short Native Prairie Grass Seed for Sale

Tallgrass Exposed Clay Subsoil Seed Mix (tough grasses and wildflowers)

Tallgrass Prairie Grass Mix (grasses only)

The Tallgrass Prairie Center Guide to Prairie Restoration in the Upper Midwest

Tallgrass Woods Edge or Savanna Seed Mix


Wet prairie is a type of wetland, often part of a range between mesic prairies and dry prairies on one side with marshes and perhaps a body of water on the other. This can be anything from a soggy spot to a floodplain in size. It also makes a great rain garden. This type of habitat is often dominated by sedges, sometimes rushes, reeds, or wetland grasses. Cattails are a leading favorite with many water-loving birds. Wet prairies are highly vulnerable to development, climate change, and other threats. Because water is life, birds and other wildlife flock to these environments. See marsh birds, shorebirds, and water birds.

30 Water Birds That Live in the United States! (w/Pics)

Emergent Wetland Mix (sedges, rushes, and grasses for shallow water)

Mesic Prairie Plants

Mesic Prairie Mix (grass and wildflower seeds)

Native Sedges – Shady Lawn Replacement, Mulch Substitute, and More

Reed bed filtration system

Sedge Meadow Seed Mix (sedges, grasses, and wildflowers for wet soils)

Sedges for Rain Gardens

Seed Mixes - Spence Nursery

Short Sedge Meadow Seed Mix (small grasses, sedges, rushes, and wildflowers for wet prairies)

Shortgrass Woods Edge or Savanna Seed Mix (with sedges and grasses)

Tallgrass Prairie Seed Mix for Medium-Wet Soils (large grasses, sedges, rushes, and wildflowers)

Tall Sedge Meadow Seed Mix (large grasses, sedges, rushes, and wildflowers for wet prairies)

Wet Mesic Prairie Mix (grasses, sedges, and wildflowers for seasonally variable sites that flood and then dry out)