Oaks and a Living Landscape


With the writings of Dr. Talamy, there's a lot of focus on the importance of oaks in landscapes designed for birds. No argument,  but Florida has more than 20 species from large trees to almost ground cover shrubs. Are they all the same?  Are they the same in the New England landscapes that Dr. Talamy is most familiar with? Are all of the caterpillars found in New England the same as they are in Florida? I'm betting not, but I've not seen the data. The importance rests on their value as hosts for caterpillars. Right now, as I get to spend some time in my landscape I see butterflies laying eggs on a wide variety of my host plants - none of them oaks. The birds are also not feeding their nestlings. What's important now is not what was important earlier. To create a real landscape for wildlife requires diversity - food and cover for all times of the year, changing with the changing needs of what's here now and through the seasons; caterpillars and every other type of invertebrate as well as fruit and seeds. That's more than oaks. And, which one is better than another? Different oaks behave differently in terms of cover and the size of their acorns.  Birds and other wildlife need much more than foliage-feedng caterpillars and they need numbers of caterpillars when they are important and that can come from one type of catgerpillar that occur in abundance. Caterpillars are important, but if there is no place to nest, we haven't succeeded.  I have never seen a bird nesting in the branches of a live oak, for example. I'm sure it occurs at times, but there are much better plants for this. Adult birds, even when they are feeding their young, often rely on other foods for themselves and these foods are just as important to the equation as caterpillars. The Carolina chickadees and tufted titmice that feed on seeds from my feeders need this to maintain themselves in order to feed their young from what i've observed. We may desire simplicity as we plant, but we need more thought than that if we are to fully succeed in our desire to create landscapes that support life and those wildlife species are more than birds. Diversity, habitat for cover as well as food, and an abhorrence of pesticides. My 2 cents for today.

Comments

  1. lamaApril 27, 2024 at 3:30 AM

    As always, an interesting point. Thank you. I've been very impressed with Tallamy's emphasis on planting oaks, and while you point out that his knowledge is based on more northerly species and their uses, I suppose I've assumed there are similar important associations here in Florida.

    For a couple of years a young Shumard oak in my landscape was host to 3 polyphemus moth cocoons, if that's the right way to describe it. It was a complete surprise and pleasure to see them. The tree is in full sun and the foliage is dense, which is perhaps why I haven't seen the caterpillars. I'm hoping this autumn I'll find another cocoon.

    I think we don't see what's around us, even as we hope we are doing the best for insects and invertebrates in general. I had an epiphany of sorts when I noticed a Carolina burying beetle at work burying a dead cardinal. I'm no scientist, certainly not an entomologist, biologist or botanist, and I had never imagined such a creature - for me, seeing that burying beetle at work was astounding. I'll never again dispose of a dead bird in the trash!

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