|  04/17/2014

Flushing Bars: Simple Devices Save Pheasants During Mowing


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If pheasants are fortunate enough to enter the breeding season in good physical condition, they are not completely out of harm’s way.

As hay lands begin to green up in the spring and then become lush in early summer, they provide a very attractive area for hens seeking a quality nest site. However, these same areas also provide farmers and ranchers with livestock forage. As a result, many hens are incidentally lost due to normal spring haying operations as well as roadside mowing.

But, there is a solution for incidental hen mortality, and the answer is the use of a flushing bar. A flushing bar is a device that typically is mounted on the front of a tractor that precedes the implement being used for haying. A flushing bar creates a disturbance in advance of the implement to allow extra time for the nesting bird to flush to avoid injury or death.

Flushing bars are easy to install, effective at forcing wildlife out of the path of the mower, and don’t get in the way of production. Research on flushing bars indicates a reduction in mortality of 60 percent in fields of alfalfa or other grass cover that is harvested for livestock forage. Add roadside grass to that list.

Although the nest is normally destroyed, pheasants are resilient nesters and the majority will re-nest in nearby undisturbed cover. By using a flushing bar, not only will more hens survive the breeding and nesting seasons but many will also go on to successfully hatch a clutch leading to a potential increase in annual bird populations which will possibly lead to subsequent population growth in later years.

White-tailed deer will move out of the way too, saving some fawns.