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Re: Go native, for the birds' sake



Birders,

While I agree that exotic invasives are bad, here's a question to ponder.
Many of us enjoyed some great birds at Lake Mattamuskeet two weekends ago,
especially along the causeway: Western Kingbird, several lingering
warblers, etc.  All of these were surviving there because of the food and
shelter offered by all the Chinese Privet.  In fact, scores of outstanding
bird records have come from this causeway of privet over the decades, if
I'm not mistaken.  Do I gather from the recent discussions that the "right
thing to do" would be to go chop it all down?  Is this what birders want?

Jeff (full signature below)

On Mon, 27 Jan 2003, E/L Pardue wrote:

> Bravo to Paula Mangiafico for taking action to combat invasive exotic
> Tallow Trees at the Duke School Lower School.  People who plant trees and
> shrubs on public or semi-public spaces can set a powerful example in their
> choices, and they need information about the negatives of invasive exotics
> and the positives of native trees and shrubs (better for the birds, in the
> long run).
>
> At Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary in north Asheville, Elisha Mitchell Audubon
> is trying to eradicate invasive exotics (Asian bittersweet, privet,
> multi-flora rose and more) and to replace them with natives.  It's a huge
> job, on just 9 or 10 acres.  Contributions of money and labor are welcome.
>
> Len Pardue
> Asheville, NC
>
> ->This is a bit off-topic, but I'll add a backyard birds note to make it all
> >better...
> >
> >Since hearing about the Chinese Tallow Tree and checking out images on the
> >Web, I was racking my brain thinking about where I might have seen one, and
> >concluded that I'd not seen one yet. Where could they be hiding?  As I sat
> >in my car one day, pondering this in a kind of mommy-daze in the Duke
> >School Lower School (Durham) parking lot, I lifted my eyes and saw hundreds
> >of white berries leering at me through the windshield. Turns out there are
> >two Chinese Tallow Trees on the property! I've since reported these
> >invaders to a woman who is interested in the landscaping at the school. I
> >hope we can get them taken out.
> >
> >Backyard last few days was just chock-full of the usual suspects. Must be
> >the cold weather, but seems like suddenly there's three times as many as
> >usual. Got Carolina wrens, brown-headed nuthatches, downies, bluebirds,
> >goldfinches, white-throated sp, finches, titmice, chickadees, robins,
> >yellow-rumps, cardinals, mourning doves, etc. The insectivores are really
> >going after the suet (also has dried insects in it). Just the usuals, but
> >all that activity makes the heart sing. Even saw the sapsucker again after
> >an absence. Red-bellied woodpecker's been drilling on our wood siding, and
> >my 5-year old says it means he wants more suet in the feeder!
> >
> >Cheers,
> >Paula Mangiafico
> >Durham, NC
> >
> >--On Sunday, January 26, 2003 11:44 PM -0500 "Joshua S. Rose"
> ><jsr6@duke.edu> wrote:
> >
> >> On Sun, 26 Jan 2003, Nathan Dias wrote:
> >>>
> >>>  Since most of our
> >>> Camellia Sasanqua flowers got fried by the freezing
> >>> weather, the Orioles have switched to eating a lot of
> >>> Tallow berries.  -- I know non-native invaders, those
> >>> Tallow trees.
> >>
> >> They're worse than that! In case you missed the little detail the last
> >> time I posted about this, as well as Johnny Randall's talk at the Carolina
> >> Bird Club winter meeting, Chinese Tallow Tree supports NO insect life. As
> >> they spread and crowd out native plants, as they are doing devastatingly
> >> in northern Florida and somewhat slower in coastal South Carolina, migrant
> >> insectivores like warblers and vireos are left foraging in lifeless
> >> wastelands.
> >>
> >> There are dozens of native tree and shrub species that produce winter
> >> fruits which are eaten by orioles, waxwings, and other birds, *and* host
> >> lots of caterpillars which feed insectivorous birds the rest of the year
> >> when the fruit is out of season. Beautyberry, Persimmon, various species
> >> of Holly and Viburnum, Red Cedar Wax Myrtle, all kinds of others...
> >>
> >> People can stop pretending that these trees are good for birds; they are
> >> NOT. If I keep hearing about it, I'm going to go into the Texbirds archive
> >> and start forwarding information from there to here about it. Trust me, I
> >> haven't even *begun* to swamp anyone with e-mail about this!
> >>
> >> Good birding, but it'll get better if we get rid of all the Chinese Tallow
> >> Trees,
> >>
> >> Josh
> >>
> >>
> >> Joshua S. Rose
> >> Duke University
> >> Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)
> >>
> >> jsr6@duke.edu
> >> http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/
> >>
> >>
>
>
>
>
>

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jeffrey S. Pippen
Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
Rm 139 Biological Sciences Bldg, Biology Department Box 90338
Duke University, Durham, NC  27708
PH: (919) 660-7278			<jspippen@duke.edu>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^