SUNFLOWERS are big business. Ask the ranchers and farmers in North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Minnesota and Kansas. If one is traveling through any of these states you cannot help but see vast fields of this crop with huge nodding seed heads and large yellow blossoms adorning the skyline. This plant is an oil producer, the kind of oil used in cooking or for some varieties, feed stock for farm animals and even a huge market for bird feeders. As a short season crop, about 90 days, sunflowers may be available in some locations like Texas for double cropping. In North Dakota it may be the major crop for single growing season conditions.

Wildlife food plots will soon make all the work and effort worthwhile. This month, migrations for lots of birds will soon kick into high gear. There are the early flyers and others that wait until really cold weather, snow and ice close up food sources in Canada before they make the effort to move south. Food plots on DNR lands, or county conservation sites, plus private plots all fill a food need for wildlife, not just birds.These plots could easily be compared to convenience stores we humans find along major roadways. Stop for a snack and be on your way down the road.

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DOVE HUNTING in Iowa began Sept. 1. Several game wardens told this scribe of good success by many hunter as they plied the fields at sunrise opening day. The officers found a good number of hunters to visit with and checked their success of the day. Dave Tierney, a former Marshall County game warden now stationed at Missouri Valley, found and checked a fair number of sportsmen and women who were taking advantage of opening day doves.

Mourning doves are near the top of the difficulty scale because they fly fast and have an agile flight pattern. For this reason the national average is 5-7 shots needed to bring down one dove. And with a national population of about 400 million doves, of which five to seven percent may be taken by hunters, this species is doing quite well. The breeding population going into next Spring will easily exceed 350 million.

Mourning doves are a game bird that belongs to the family called Columbidae. They feed their young “pigeon milk” which is a milky substance they produce in their throats. They are also classified as a migratory gamebird under the International Bird Treaty Act of 1918. This agreement is an understanding between the countries of Canada, the United States and Mexico by which the regulation of harvests of migratory species is established.

Doves live about one year for adults. A high mortality rate of up to 75 percent, depending upon geographical regions, is common. Weather events take a toll. So does disease, predators and to a very small extent, hunting. Doves compensate for all the losses by a very high reproductive capacity. How else can a national population of 400 million at this time of year be possible.

The meat of doves makes for excellent table fare. Its palatability has nothing to do with size. One dove produces about 4 ounces of meat, the same as a perch, bluegill, crappie, woodcock, quail or squirrel. Doves are prized because they are not easy to take. So for the effort required to take a limit of doves, should a hunter be so lucky or skilled at hitting fast targets, this little game bird is a well respected critter. Look for them over sunflower food plots.

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ROADSIDE WILDLIFE SURVEYS have been tabulated. This scribe will have more specifics in a future column, but for now you can know that statewide the Iowa pheasant count jumped up by 37 percent. For quail in southern Iowa areas, their numbers went up 21 percent. In this central Iowa area pheasant count data showed a 22.1 average per route. For 2015 it is up to 38.1 per mile which is an increase of 69.5 percent. Gray partridge totals are up 56.4 percent and cottontail rabbit is down 29 percent. There is an obvious undercount on rabbits seen along roadsides compared to the overall impression from many folks talking about rabbit sightings elsewhere.

Statewide roadside data for pheasants is up 37 percent, quail up 52, partridge up 43 and rabbit down 9 percent. More details on what these statistics offer will be forthcoming soon. Stay tuned.

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Lots of things can and will happen this month. It is the beginning of a transition toward the Fall season. Daytime temperatures can be hot early but decidedly cooler toward the end of the month. Here is some data from the history books to allow your memory to file away for future conversations over coffee with friends.

First item: Sept. 23 is the date for the Autumnal Equinox, approximately equal day and night length. This cosmic happening relates to the earth’s position in its orbit around the Sun. The tilt of the earth will soon be half way between the equator and the celestial poles. The result is what we call the first day of autumn. It is also when we can see the sunrise each day due east and the sunset is due west.

Second: Hot weather is not likely to stick around too long. From the archives of Iowa’s notations comes this little jewel. At Des Moines on Sept. 14, 1881, the temperature was 80 degrees. Weather watchers noted however that low stratus clouds moved across the state from the northwest that afternoon and evening. On the 15th, low pressure system moved north toward Chicago, pulling down unseasonably cooler air behind a cold front. Cold rain spread across the land. Early morning Des Moines air temps were 58 degrees and they kept falling during the day.

On the morning of the 16th, the low pressure system moved west, not east, bringing more heavy cloud cover to Iowa and Minnesota. This pushed colder air into Iowa. Frost warning were issued from Minnesota all the way south to Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. At Des Moines the high was 46 with a few flakes of snow were seen in the air. The snow was heavier further north. Algona had four inches of snow that held heavily on tree branches, breaking many of them. Des Moines also got four inches of snow, as did Creston and other western Iowa cities. Six inches of wet heavy snow was recorded in a few places. By noon time a lot of the snow had melted.

Third: The record for heaviest rainfall in one 24-hour period happened on Sept. 18, 1926. Twenty one inches of rain fell in northwest Iowa near the City of Boyden in Sioux County.

Fourth: The first killing frost can happen in northern Iowa on or about Sept. 24. Early frosts and late frosts are all part of the norm for Iowa’s climate.

Fifth: Sept. 27, 1909 was the date eastern Iowa felt an earthquake. Its epicenter was near Terre Haute, Ind., with vibrations felt over a 30,000 square miles surrounding this Indiana town. Chimneys were toppled, plaster cracked and windows broken as far away as Missouri. States feeling the earth shake included Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.

Lastly, on a more benign note, early September will see migrating Kingbirds, Rough-winged Swallows, Purple Martins and American Orioles. Mid-month species to look for on their way south are Cliff Swallows, Eastern Whip-poor-wills, Northern Crested Flycatchers, Tennessee Warblers, Magnolia Warblers, and Water Thrushes. By the end of September, Swainson’s Hawks, Broad-winged hawks, Rails, Cuckoos, Eastern Nighthawks, Barn Swallows, Wrens, Bobolinks, and Indigo Buntings are moving through. Waterfowl are staging for the big push as far northern habitats begin to get show and ice.

I think you can have anything you want, or any variation possible while the month of September moves into the history books for 2015. Lots of pages have yet to be written about this transition month. Enjoy it.

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For your funny bone as seen on an avid fisherman’s shelf: WARNING! FISHING POX. Very contagious to adult males. Symptoms: Continual complaint as to need for fresh air, sunshine and relaxation. Patient has blank expression, sometimes deaf to wife and kids. Has no taste for work or any kind. Frequent checking of tackle catalogs. Hangs out in sporting goods stores longer than usual. Secret night phone calls to fishing pals. Mumbles to self. Lies to everyone. NO KNOWN CURE.

Treatment: Medication is useless. Disease is not fatal. See sporting goods dealer at once. Victims should go fishing as often as possible.

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Garry Brandenburg is a graduate of Iowa State University with BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology. He is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. Contact him at P.O. Box 96, Albion, Iowa 50005