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Newsletter Article
Summer in Bird Park
I receive many calls concerning feeding the birds all year around. My favorite
saying is "keep it natural." Natural food is the mainstay of all wildlife,
and the base of the world’s natural food supply is vegetable. No animal lived
in the sea or on land until after plants were established in both environments.
Over barely imaginable lengths of time, countless species of plants and animals
have spread over the sea and the earth.
Bird Park teems with plants native to Pennsylvania, such as May apples, colts foot and yarrow. Others were introduced from Europe, such as the prolific Garlic Mustard and Queen Anne Lace.
The so-called balance of nature is constantly teetering in local areas or habitats. It is a balance between producers and consumers, that is, between carnivores and herbivores, prey and predators, animal remains and scavengers. If the population of plants and animals does not remain fairly constant over a period of time, the balance becomes upset and the habitat destabilizes until a new balance is achieved, perhaps with a different mix of plants and animals.
Bird Park has gone though many changes in the years I have walked there. We have
concentrated animals, disrupted streams and crowded the environment. Yet It
still remains an oasis of wildlife in our community. We have allowed sections
of the park to grow in a wild state. We allow logs to rot on the forest floor.
When we prune or plant, we make sure the new plants fit into our forested
greenspace.
Our goals for these spaces are to sustain and utilize these wondrous areas in our communities. With the careful steps of our foresters and our community input we will be able to continue to watch nature take its course.
Some of the plants which provide food in our park in the summer follow:
Buckthorns: Woodpeckers, Mocking birds and Sapsuckers
Pigweeds: Goldfinches
Serviceberries: Tanagers and Thrushes
Wild Cherries: Waxwings and Robins
Smartweeds: Cardinals and Sparrows
Blackberries: Waxwings, Robins, Sparrows and Cardinals
Oaks, Maples, Dogwoods and Beech: many birds and mammals.
Take a walk with the Conservancy and learn more.