What wildlife has been missing lately. (Rochester, Mankato: how much, house, high school)

[Izzie1213]

I haven't seen any pheasants for a number years. Used to see them frequently 30 years ago, can't remember the last time I've seen one.

Hummingbirds. For the past 20 years my parents have been feeding them in central Minnesota. They would get practically flocks of them every summer. The past two summers there has been a sharp decrease in the number seen coming to her feeders.

[mn shutterbug]

Unfortunately, pheasants lack the cover necessary for good populations. This article explains the major problem. Conservation Reserve Program | CRP: Minnesota DNR

[Teak]

Originally Posted by Izzie1213

I haven't seen any pheasants for a number years. Used to see them frequently 30 years ago, can't remember the last time I've seen one.

Hummingbirds. For the past 20 years my parents have been feeding them in central Minnesota. They would get practically flocks of them every summer. The past two summers there has been a sharp decrease in the number seen coming to her feeders.

Do you drive out in the country on a regular basis? I do, and I almost always see pheasants. Not many, but they are out there. It is true that the numbers are down significantly due to a loss of habitat; farmers like to mow the roadside ditches which is where many pheasants would raise their young.

We grew red-flowered beans the past two summers and have seen exactly one hummingbird each summer, one time each. We're going to try to attract them on a regular basis this year (with a hummingbird feeder), but yeah, another species that appears to be in decline.

Now, if we're talking about coyotes and white-tail deer ...

[my54ford]

lol, you want to know what wiped out pheasant habitat? Ethanol and Solar farms.

[mn shutterbug]

Originally Posted by my54ford

lol, you want to know what wiped out pheasant habitat? Ethanol and Solar farms.

Bull. I do hope you were kidding.

[my54ford]

Originally Posted by mn shutterbug

Bull. I do hope you were kidding.

Nope....We took all our nominal acres out of crp, tiled it and made corn grow....300 acres into productions. Every one of our neighbors did the same thing. All because of ethanol subsidies. As for Solar? Yea a 5MW solar farm takes 40 acres out of production out of habitat. Drive 14 between Mankato and Rochester and you'll see all the ground getting used for solar pwr. Xcel takes more habitat for solar..How much wildlife lives on 1000 acres?

https://www.xcelenergy.com/company/m...n_upper_midwes
More than 440,000 solar panels spanning 1,000 acre

https://www.xcelenergy.com/Energy_Po..._on_Our_System

[Hulsker 1856]

Originally Posted by my54ford

Nope....We took all our nominal acres out of crp, tiled it and made corn grow....300 acres into productions. Every one of our neighbors did the same thing. All because of ethanol subsidies. As for Solar? Yea a 5MW solar farm takes 40 acres out of production out of habitat. Drive 14 between Mankato and Rochester and you'll see all the ground getting used for solar pwr. Xcel takes more habitat for solar..How much wildlife lives on 1000 acres?

https://www.xcelenergy.com/company/m...n_upper_midwes
More than 440,000 solar panels spanning 1,000 acre

https://www.xcelenergy.com/Energy_Po..._on_Our_System

Minnesota comprises over 56 million acres.

I get that you have a problem with solar - what that problem is, I have no idea: probably some petulant reaction to less coal and oil being burned, whatever - but you should find something less laughably absurd than whining that a 1000-acre array has significantly dented the pheasant population over a place comprising tens of millions of acres.

Seriously.

You could have said golf courses killed off pheasants (because the acreage of golf courses in Minnesota dwarfs that of solar arrays). You could have blamed malls or high school football fields or cemeteries, all of which collectively have footprints orders of magnitude larger than solar arrays in Minnesota. Now, such claims would have been idiotic, but at least they would have been somewhat less idiotic than blaming solar arrays.

But you don't have a beef with golf courses or malls or high school football fields or cemeteries.

So you nonsensically whined about solar arrays.

[Lodestar]

Butterflies. When I was a kid in the fifties the air was alive with butterflies in the summer.


I don't know what State management was thinking when they decided to kill all the milkweed which nurtured the endangered population of monarchs. This is what happens when people make decisions from "book learnin'" and don't have the practical experience of living on the land.


I'm going to be controversial here and say we have allowed urban-minded folks to dominate the decision-making process for rural people. That is unfortunately wrong-minded.


We have a lot of hummingbirds here in Southern MN. But it's because I make sure to plant a variety of flowers which attract them and butterflies.


Lower populations of toads, frogs, turtles and lizards. I have to shake my head about destroying wetlands and then thinking that a man-made wetland next to a four lane highway is going to be equivalent to what was lost.


I'll admit that we are faced with some very difficult trade-offs here in the name of progress.

[my54ford]

Originally Posted by Hulsker 1856

Minnesota comprises over 56 million acres.

I get that you have a problem with solar - what that problem is, I have no idea: probably some petulant reaction to less coal and oil being burned, whatever - but you should find something less laughably absurd than whining that a 1000-acre array has significantly dented the pheasant population over a place comprising tens of millions of acres.

Seriously.

You could have said golf courses killed off pheasants (because the acreage of golf courses in Minnesota dwarfs that of solar arrays). You could have blamed malls or high school football fields or cemeteries, all of which collectively have footprints orders of magnitude larger than solar arrays in Minnesota. Now, such claims would have been idiotic, but at least they would have been somewhat less idiotic than blaming solar arrays.

But you don't have a beef with golf courses or malls or high school football fields or cemeteries.

So you nonsensically whined about solar arrays.

No, I said Ethanol and other renewable energy sources like solar....BTW I actually love solar...the more they put in the more fossil fuel plants I get to build!

[my54ford]

Originally Posted by Lodestar

Butterflies. When I was a kid in the fifties the air was alive with butterflies in the summer.


I don't know what State management was thinking when they decided to kill all the milkweed which nurtured the endangered population of monarchs. This is what happens when people make decisions from "book learnin'" and don't have the practical experience of living on the land.


I'm going to be controversial here and say we have allowed urban-minded folks to dominate the decision-making process for rural people. That is unfortunately wrong-minded.


We have a lot of hummingbirds here in Southern MN. But it's because I make sure to plant a variety of flowers which attract them and butterflies.


Lower populations of toads, frogs, turtles and lizards. I have to shake my head about destroying wetlands and then thinking that a man-made wetland next to a four lane highway is going to be equivalent to what was lost.


I'll admit that we are faced with some very difficult trade-offs here in the name of progress.

Yea, Monarchs! Actually gave up @ 5 acres behind the plant for Monarch Habitat last year. Got named in the paper and everything.... We get hummingbirds at the house too, The little Green ones. But we put lots of flowers in as well.Not sure about frogs etc.I actually have @250 of wetland front and we always see frog and turtles etc...