Here's one of those strange examples: In California, Himalayan
blackberries are one of the few places where seriously-declining Tricolored
Blackbirds can nest successfully, as more native places (marshes) are now a
patchwork easily infiltrated by predators such as night-herons and
raccoons. I recall a rookery of 2,000 night-herons in a eucalyptus grove
near a smallish cattail marsh. The herons wiped out 5,000 TRBL nests in a
few nights. But in the blackberries, the Trikes are successful.
On Fri, Aug 15, 2025 at 9:05 AM HAL MICHAEL via Tweeters <
tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:
>
Gary brings up a good point about some of our decisions about habitat, its
>
restoration, and modifications.
>
>
Early in my career I read an article by a WDG Wildlife Biologist. He
>
described a situation (probably made up) of a corner of his yard overrun
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with blackberries. A song Sparrow nested there. In honor of his European
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roots, he annually "collected" a bird or two to eat. Every year the
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sparrows nested and produced young. Then, he decided to clean up the yard,
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install a gazebo and fire pit, and make the yard neater. No more sparrow
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nesting, no more sparrow eating. He had converted a piece of land from
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supporting Song Sparrow to essentially reducing the world population by a
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pair and their young. Like putting up those barriers instead of
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blackberry.
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The second was in conversations with an entomologist regarding proposals
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to replace (exotic) stands of eucalyptus in coastal CA with native shrubs
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and such. This would remove the trees in which Monarchs wintered and not
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replace them (Monarchs have site fidelity) for decades at the minimum.
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>
There are times when exotic species may be providing ecological services
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that the native plants don't/didn't. Not saying that we should keep all
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the exotics but perhaps a deeper dive into the services they provide and
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how the loss of them will be mitigated.
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>
Hal Michael
>
Board of Directors, Ecologists Without Borders <http://ecowb.org/>
>
Olympia WA
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360-459-4005
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360-791-7702 (C)
>
ucd880 at comcast.net
>
>
>
>
On 08/15/2025 5:48 AM PDT Gary Bletsch via Tweeters <
>
tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:
>
>
>
Dear Tweeters,
>
>
Although I favor native plants in a passive sort of way, I will never
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bad-mouth the Himalayan Blackberry--if that is still the right name. I owe
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my life to Himalayan Blackberries.
>
>
In December of 1990, my 1971 Dodge Dart started sliding and spinning,
>
doing 360's all over Interstate 5 in Tukwila. I'd hit black ice. After
>
bouncing off a little subcompact, the car went careening toward a semi,
>
which I somehow missed. I distinctly remember saying goodbye to what had
>
seemed like a pretty darned good life up to that point. A moment later, I
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was sitting in the driver's seat, utterly unharmed. The bulb of a huge
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freeway light pole was slowly swinging back and forth right, a cubit from
>
my window. I had clipped the pole, which landed on my roof, denting it only
>
slightly. The front of the car had plunged into a huge patch of
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blackberries, which absorbed the impact of a 3000-pound Mopar going 60 mph.
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The frame was not bent; I just needed a new radiator and a few dents
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hammered out.
>
>
Today there is a line of concrete barriers where that blackberry patch
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used to be. If I had hit that, I would almost certainly have died, or at
>
least suffered serious injury.
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>
At my old place in the Skagit Valley, we had huge, long thickets of
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blackberries. The goats and I had our work cut out for us, keeping it under
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control.
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>
White-crowned Sparrows and several other species nested in there. I don't
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remember exactly what birds ate the fruits, but many did, certainly
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including Starlings, Towhees, and Robins. In winter, I'd have all sorts of
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interesting birds sheltering in those thickets, including White-throated
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Sparrows almost every winter.
>
>
Besides being my goats' absolute favorite food, the blackberries provided
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an enormous bounty of fruit, and blackberry pie was a major feature of our
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late-summer diet every year.
>
>
Yours truly,
>
>
Gary Bletsch
>
>
PS I did a birding trip in the foothills of the Himalayas a few years ago,
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visiting India and Bhutan. While I saw *Cannabis sativa *growing wild all
>
over the place, I never saw a blackberry. Maybe "Armenian Blackberry" would
>
be a better name. The *Wikipedia *article states that the plant is native
>
to Armenia and northern Iran.
>
>
>
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>
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>
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>
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>
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>
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>
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--
Steve Hampton
Port Townsend, WA (qatáy)