FIGURE 28.―The flicker, a wood-lot species that appreciates bird houses.
BIRDS Can Be Attracted to Wood Lots by Various Measures and Practices
Bird conservation in the United States has no question marks attached to it. It is a profound conviction of the people that has been written into the best code of State and Federal protective laws in the world. Originally, the basis of much of this legislation was the demonstrated practical value of birds in controlling injurious insects, but later widespread appreciation of birds’ esthetic worth has developed into a country-wide bird-protection sentiment. In addition to this fine public spirit, it is important that the human friends of the birds give practical attention to special local needs for their welfare.
The fundamentals of helping birds are to protect them as thoroughly as possible, to see that they have a continuous supply of water, to provide nest boxes for the hole-nesting species, and, when necessary, to supplement their natural food. As applied to wood lots, bird protection and attraction methods must be simplified. It is not feasible, as a rule, to adopt special protective measures, but vagrant cats can be eliminated from the farm, and occasionally a sharp-shinned or Cooper hawk or a red squirrel can be done away with. The more thoroughly protective measures can be applied, however, the better will be the results.
If a wood lot contains no small streams, it will probably be impracticable in most cases to remedy this defect. If there is a water supply not far away, some birds no doubt will nest in the wood lot, but if there is none within easy flying range, the other woodland attractions will go for naught.
The provision of nest boxes is an obligation nowadays upon all who would help birds. No longer is there the profusion of decaying or dead trees containing cavities which once formed the natural homes of whole series of valuable birds. Unless nest boxes are provided for these species, all but the most expert drillers among the woodpeckers, and the few birds that fall heir to their abandoned nest cavities, will become greatly reduced in numbers. These hole-inhabiting birds, as the woodpeckers, crested flycatcher, tree swallow, house wren, nuthatches, titmice, chickadee, and bluebird, are among the most valuable bird friends of the forest, and action should be taken in every wood lot to furnish them places to rear their young (fig. 28).
Besides protection, water, and nest boxes, the birds’ food supply should receive some attention. It is easy, for instance, in clearing woodlands to spare, here and there, a Juneberry, raspberry, blackberry, elderberry, or mulberry bush. The presence of their favorite wild fruits will induce more birds to nest in the wood lot and will help them with their food problems. If wild berries are not already present, it will be well to plant some of the most favored kinds about the woodland margins. The names of these fruits and the seasons when they are in bearing are given in Farmers’ Bulletins of the Department of Agriculture, which also treat other phases of bird attraction.
Winter is the time of the birds’ greatest need for artificial provision of food. The foods commonly used for winter feeding include suet or other fat, pork rinds, bones with shreds of meat, various seeds, and the like. The methods of making these supplies available to birds are as varied as the dietary itself. They are described in Farmers’ Bulletins the department that can be had for the asking.
Feeding places for game birds and sparrows may be provided by erecting low hutches or making wigwamlike shocks of corn or grain sheaves under which food may be scattered. The opening should be to the south. These shelters should be inspected about once a week to see that they are not covered or blocked with snow, and to renew the food supply. If predatory animals are attracted to such spots discontinue feeding there, scatter the food in a different place each time, and take steps to eliminate the predators.
In pruning trees it would be well also to allow for entertaining some of the seed-eating birds. Alders and birches bear in their numerous cones a supply of seeds eagerly sought for by redpolls, siskins, and goldfinches during the winter. The winged fruits of ashes and box elders are opened and the seeds eaten by pine and evening' grosbeaks. Larches, pines, and other conifers attract crossbills, as well as some of the species just mentioned.
Fundamental of forest protection everywhere is prevention of fires, which not only directly kill trees, especially those of the younger generation, but consume the humus so necessary to healthy forest growth and to water conservation. Fire also damages trees not killed, by rendering them more subject to attacks of insects and to decay. Prevention of fires is for-the good of birds as well as of trees. The measures that are recommended to minimize damage by fire, such as cleaning out old roads and trails as fire barriers and breaking up large woodlands into blocks by open fire lanes, also encourage the presence of birds. Birds are much more numerous around the margins and in openings of woodlands than in extensive dense forests.
Another good wood-lot, policy, with regard to undergrowth, benefits the birds, for to them such growth is of importance in furnishing nesting sites and food and, together with the leaf mold, in maintaining a sufficient degree of humidity. Although it is contrary to general practice, foresters advise against grazing in wood lots. A closely pastured wood lot is recognizable at a glance; the ground is bare, puddled, and hard, and the undergrowth and limbs of the trees as high as the cattle can conveniently reach have been destroyed. The old trees are injured (stag-headed) by the compacting of the soil around their roots and by destruction of the humus layer, and reproduction is entirely prevented. Grazing and the continuous forest reproduction that is so necessary for wood lots are incompatible.
Gradual rather than widespread cutting of wood lots is recommended, as it interferes less with general conditions favorable to trees and always leaves some of the older seed-bearing individuals to provide for reproduction. This policy also is favorable to birds, for it permits most of them to resort to the sanie area year after year instead of seeking new homes, and in general involves the least change in the essential conditions of the environment. Indeed, practically everything that is good for maintaining the wood lot is good for birds.