Cover crops are an increasingly common conservation practice in intensive row‐crop agriculture of the Midwestern United States and can improve wildlife habitat. However, they also benefit agricultural pest species such as voles (Microtus), which have damaged cover‐cropped soybean fields in Indiana. We tested the feasibility of attracting raptors, which are natural predators of voles, to cover‐cropped fields by supplying artificial perches from which to hunt. We assessed raptor use of artificial perches in cover‐cropped fields during the winters of 2018 and 2019. Perches were erected at three different distances from the field edge: 50, 125 and 200 m. We modelled perch use of our three most common species, great horned owl, red‐tailed hawk and American kestrel, with a logistic generalised linear mixed model. Raptors used 82% of the perches, and perch use was greatest at 200 m. However, even at peak use, our best model predicted a low probability of overall perch use for all three species. Artificial perches can attract raptors into large row‐crop fields. Sturdier perch design, extended perch availability and greater vole populations could increase use of perches. Although raptor perch use by itself is unlikely to control vole populations in cover‐cropped fields, artificial perches could form a valuable component of an integrated pest management system.

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消磨农作物的时间？人工栖息促进猛禽在田间使用

在美国中西部的集约耕作农业中，有盖作物是一种越来越普遍的保护措施，可以改善野生动植物的栖息地。但是，它们也有益于田鼠等农业害虫物种（田鼠），这已经损坏了印第安纳州的覆被大豆田。我们测试了通过提供人工栖息地来捕食猛禽（它们是田鼠的天敌）来覆盖作物田地的可行性。我们评估了猛禽在2018年和2019年冬季在覆盖作物田中的猛禽使用情况。在距田间边缘三个不同距离处竖立了鲈鱼：50、125和200 m。我们通过逻辑广义线性混合模型对三种最常见物种（大角，红尾鹰和美国茶American）的鲈鱼使用进行了建模。猛禽使用了82％的栖息地，栖息地的最大使用量为200 m。但是，即使在高峰使用时，我们的最佳模型也预测了这三个物种整体栖息地使用的可能性很低。人工栖息地可以将猛禽吸引到大行作物田中。坚固的鲈鱼设计 鲈鱼供应量的增加和田鼠数量的增加可能会增加对鲈鱼的利用。虽然仅靠猛禽栖息地的使用不太可能控制有盖作物田地的田鼠种群，但人工栖息地可能构成病虫害综合治理系统的重要组成部分。