[TN-Bird] Revision of my earlier question about trees and birds
- From: FINCH64@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 18:47:06 EDT
I feel I should probably clarify what my intent was in asking the question
and to what extent I am referring to birds and trees and their relation to each
other.
My use of the information would be for submitting reports either to this list
or to ebirds and also for my own personal information. My learning to
identify different species of trees is also to help me in reference to any
future
field trips I may take. If somebody tells me a bird is in a locust tree - I
would like to be able to immediately know which tree that is.
I was referring to birds and their relationship to species of trees in every
aspect of bird behaviour - Which trees provide food directly to the birds
(fruits, nuts, buds, etc)? Which trees are favored by birds to build their
nests
there? Which trees are used to obtain food indirectly (as in insects that
inhabit those trees)?
And I guess my question would be is there often a big difference between
species of trees in that regard? For example, if certain species of birds eat
the
berries of a red cedar, do they also eat the berries of a different cedar? If
they build their nests in a certain species of oak tree, will they also build
their nests in any oak tree? If they hunt insects on the bark of a shagbark
hickory, will they often hunt insects on the bark of any other kind of hickory?
I don't intend to use the information to always specify a certain species of
tree when on a field trip when I'm attempting to point out the location of a
bird to other birders. It is more likely that they will be pointing it out to
me and I will benefit from knowing which one is the alder tree they are
referring to. Rather than knowing all of the different species of alders to
point it
out to them.
I think the answer to my question will probably be that it depends on the
species and perhaps even the circumstances like the season.
What got me thinking about all of this is a book I checked out of a local
library which advises birders to plant specific plants (including trees -
especially fruit trees) in their yard to attract certain species of birds. It
just
makes sense to me that the presence of the same kinds of trees in a bird's
natural surroundings could also increase the likelihood of encountering that
species of bird there as well.
Barry Jernigan
Murfreesboro, Rutherford Co, TN
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