Thanks Dave and Wilson for a wonderfully informative post.
Ken Trease

On Sun, Nov 29, 2020 at 5:39 PM Wilson Cady <gorgebirds at juno.com> wrote:


> Alder trees are right up there with the birches for producing seeds that

> attract Pine Siskins and I have seen Common Redpoll feeding along with

> them. By late summer the leaves of Alders look pretty ratty and are full of

> holes from all of the small caterpillars feeding on them. During migration

> we watch warbler and vireos flocks glean small green "worms" from the

> leaves as they move through our woods. Alders also make great and easy to

> split firewood, are used to make printer/copy paper and improve the forest

> soil with their decomposing leaves and wood as well as having nitrogen

> fixing nodules on their roots like alfalfa or other legumes. They are

> short-lived trees, the ones on our place are dying out at about 70 years

> old and make great nest snags for woodpeckers etc.

>

>

> Wilson Cady

> Columbia River Gorge, WA

>

>

> ---------- Original Message ----------

> From: "D&J Nunnallee" <nunnallee at comcast.net>

> To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>

> Subject: [Tweeters] Alder Trees and birds

> Date: Sun, 29 Nov 2020 15:57:03 -0800

>

> Hello Tweets,

>

> I grew up in Washington long believing that alders are 'junk trees', weedy

> trees which spring up unwanted everywhere. And indeed they are everywhere

> that deciduous trees grow in this area.

>

> This Fall I have been impressed by the large flocks of Pine Siskins

> frequenting alders in our front yard, surely to glean insects I surmised.

> But then the leaves fell and still the birds returned in large numbers. I

> studied the trees with my binoculars and saw that there were green drooping

> catkins, small oval green cones and small oval brown cones. I checked the

> Internet and found that alders produce their new (female) cones and new

> (male) catkins this time of year; the catkins will release their pollen

> next

> spring to fertilize the cones.

>

> Ok, so I studied the flocks of siskins more closely, and discovered that

> the

> birds are frequenting *only* the brown cones. Hmm, those are the old cones

> from last year which have not yet fallen. So I gathered a few cones, each

> roughly the size of a fingernail, and some catkins to study under my

> dissecting microscope. I was surprised to find that the brown cones dropped

> numerous seeds with the slightest jostling. The seeds are flat and are

> found

> in the narrow flat recesses of the cones. The green cones by contrast have

> visible seeds, but they are tight, not yet matured, and are difficult to

> remove. The hanging catkins of course have no seeds, and are of little

> interest to the birds.

>

> So now it is clear what the birds are seeking, and it is also apparent how

> important the alders are for our small seed-eating birds. I will not think

> of alders as 'junk trees' again.

>

> Dave

>

> David & Jo Nunnallee

> Sammamish, WA

> nunnallee at comcast.net

>

>

>

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