Have you ever heard of a timberdoodle? A goatsucker? Both are nicknames for birds found in Michigan’s young aspen forests.

Timberdoodle

The woodcock, nicknamed the timberdoodle for its long beak – which it uses to probe in moist soil looking for earthworms – is a prized upland bird game species. The whip-poor-will, or goatsucker, has the familiar “whip-poor-will” song that many people recognize. Both of these birds, along with many other wildlife species, depend on young aspen forests to survive.

Young aspen forests must be intensively managed or, as time passes, they will grow into older forests. Historically in Michigan, young forests occurred in areas where there were significant weather events or large wildfires. The wind would blow over a large area of trees or a large fire would burn acres of trees, allowing a new, young forest to appear. In addition to natural events like wind and fire, humans also created young forest as land was cleared in the late 1800s for farming and wood products and pockets of young forests were planted and scattered across the landscape. Read more