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Adopt a Tree to Save the Birds

April 4, 2022
Providing a habitat for the insects birds eat!
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A female Baltimore Oriole looks to her right while facing the camera, showing her bright yellow/orange breast and sharp beak. Expand Image
© Jen Goellnitz CC

Many birds depend on caterpillars often found on trees lining city sidewalks. But few insects spend their whole lives on the tree: the next stage is in the leaves and soil under the tree. In cities, that habitat is often compacted and leafless. By adopting a tree and creating a “soft landing” for caterpillars, anyone can help keep birds supplied with the insects they need to survive.

Homegrown National Park® is a grassroots call-to-action to regenerate diversity and ecosystem function by planting native plants and creating new ecological networks. Learn how to plant native and get on the HNP map here.

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BirdNote® 

Adopt a Tree to Save the Birds 

Written by Ariana Remmel

This is BirdNote.
 
[Baltimore Oriole, ML 202209, 1:37-1:40]
 
Songbirds like this Baltimore Oriole thrive on a steady diet of scrumptious caterpillars that are often found on trees lining city sidewalks.
 
But very few of these larval moths and butterflies live their whole lives on the tree itself, says entomologist Douglas Tallamy, the co-founder of Homegrown National Park®. Their next life stage is in the leaves and soil under the tree.
 
Douglas Tallamy: Well, if you look under most trees, there's no leaf litter. And we mow and compact the soil to the point where it's rock hard so they can't get underground. So the way we treat the landscape under the tree creates an ecological trap.
 
That’s a problem for birds who need caterpillars to raise their young. Tallamy says one solution is to grow low-lying native plants, like ferns and mayapple, around the base of trees. Or you can rake autumn leaves into piles around the trunk.
 
Douglas Tallamy: We call it creating a soft landing site for the caterpillars in that tree. They drop down, they've got to tunnel under the ground to pupate. So you have a continuation of the moth population that should be there.  
 
And apartment dwellers can pitch in by adopting a tree in their building’s yard and creating a soft landing for caterpillars. 
 
Douglas Tallamy: And if everybody adopted a single tree on that yard, then you've got a much healthier landscape. And the individual gets to contribute a little bit.
 
[Baltimore Oriole, ML 202209, 1:37-1:40]
 
To learn more about Homegrown National Park® and how to take part in their simple grassroots solution to the biodiversity crisis, visit BirdNote dot org. I’m Ariana Remmel. 

###

Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. 
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote   June 2022         Narrator: ​​Ariana Remmel

ID# HNP-03-2022-04-04        HNP-03
 

Ariana Remmel
Writer Narrator
Tags: backyard sanctuary, habitat

Related Resources

Homegrown National ParkNature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard, Bo…The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees, Book b…The Ten Commandments of Subirdia

More About These Birds

Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula)

Icterus galbula

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Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

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