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Westford Wildlife Watch Native trees help native birds
Marian Harman/Special to the Eagle-Independent
Special to the Eagle-Independent
Editor s note: due to a production error in last week s edition, the Eagle-Independent is presenting the Westford Wildlife column again in entirety.
Birds need native trees.
Laura Tangley and Desiree Narango worked for three years as interns for Doug Tallamy, professor of entomology at the University of Delaware.
They studied how nonnative trees in cities and suburbs affect birds. In Laura Tangley s
National Wildlife Federation article, entitled, Why Birds Need Native Trees , she noted that 80% of suburbia is landscaped with plants from Asia.
Marian Harman
In this winter of our COVID discontent, we have something exciting to look for at our feeders. According to the National Audubon website, this winter is “one of the biggest irruption years of boreal birds in recent memory.”
As you have no doubt noticed, conifers have “mast” years when cones are plentiful and other years when they produce very few cones. Conifers’ primary predators are squirrels and it is thought that these irregular cycles of lean years keep the population of squirrels in control.
When cone crops are meager in Canada, as they are this winter, many squirrels will not survive the winter. But birds that rely on conifer seeds for winter food can fly south in search of food.