SEED AVAILABILITY IN GRAZED PASTURES AND CONSERVATION RESERVE PROGRAMFIELDS DURING WINTER IN KANSAS

Studies have documented the importance of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields to breeding birds, but few have examined them as food so urces for wintering birds. We compared the biomass of seeds in CRP fie lds to that in grazed native grass pastures in northeastern Kansas dur ing two winters. Log transformed total seed biomass was significantly lower in grazed pastures than in CRP fields during the first winter bu t not the second. Total seed biomass in CRP fields was highly variable , and decreased between November and February. Seeds that were typical ly abundant in CRP fields are important food items of wintering grassl and birds. In conclusion, CRP fields are superior to grazed native gra ss pastures in northeastern Kansas as winter foraging habitat for bird s.