CONDON’S CORNER
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| The abundance of tasty (even to humans) fruits on an Autumn Olive shrub indicates extremely successful pollination by an abundance of critters. |
Help wildlife: Grow Autumn Olive shrubs
© Marlene A. Condon
Before Canadians ever thought about spending winters in the southern United States (where they were nicknamed “snowbirds” by Americans), some bird species were already traveling there—except, for them, it was out of sheer necessity. When the cold winds of autumn hint at the winter to come, these original "snowbirds" leave their northerly breeding grounds for places like my yard in Virginia.
White-throated Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Hermit Thrushes, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, and many other species enjoy a winter home here because they find cover, food, and water to make it through each day.
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| Every winter the author’s Autumn Olive shrubs host Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers that make sap wells beneficial to them and many other forms of wildlife. |
Unfortunately, the ability of these birds to survive anywhere until spring returns is more threatened with every passing year. While people understand loss of habitat from development, virtually no one recognizes a much more insidious source of habitat loss that is supported by both government and environmentalists: the removal of nonnative plants in the name of “saving” the natural world.
The popular narrative is that nonnative plants destroy ecological integrity (ecosystems with their native components intact that allows both the systems, and the organisms in them, to regenerate themselves for the perpetuation of life). But the truth is that vilified nonnative plants do support wildlife and thus help species to survive and reproduce.
As I take my almost daily morning walks in the winter months, I invariably see numerous juncos and white-throats feeding upon seeds of dried Japanese Stiltgrass plants (Microstegium vimineum) that line the edges of the country roads I travel.
In my yard at this time of year, Hermit Thrushes find and feed upon the bright-red berries of Japanese Barberry shrubs (Berberis thunbergii var. atropurpurea) when many kinds of fruits on my native plants—such as Blackhaw Viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium), Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), and Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)—have long since been eaten.
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers habitually visit my Autumn Olive shrubs (Elaeagnus umbellata) that provide copious amounts of sap, not only for them but also for other kinds of birds and mammals that take advantage of the oozing “sap wells” these birds create. Even insects roused to activity in winter by unusually warm days are able to stay alive, thanks to nutrition made available by the sapsuckers.
Sadly, this wonderful delicatessen of a shrub is perhaps the most reviled nonnative species of all. Yet it feeds a huge array of creatures in horribly degraded habitats that can’t possibly support many native-plant species, such as road margins compacted by highway mowers and polluted with auto fluids and road salt; long-unused cow fields compacted by half-ton animals and containing nutrient-poor soil; etc.
Years ago, I visited a designated wildlife area near Natural Bridge in Lexington, Virginia. The ground was severely depleted of plant nutrients and organic matter, making it extremely difficult for any plants to grow there except colonizers, such as native Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) and nonnative Autumn Olive.
While the evergreen Redcedar provides cover and fruits, Autumn Olive is far more useful to far more animals throughout much more of the year by way of edible buds, pollen, nectar, leaves, and fruits, in addition to providing cover when foliage is still on the plants.
In spring, Autumn Olive flowers provide an abundance of nectar and pollen for many kinds of pollinators, from bees and butterflies to wasps and flies. Thanks to these insects, bounteous small red fruits appear later and feed many species of birds along with mammals (such as the American Black Bear, the Gray Squirrel, and the Eastern Chipmunk) in late summer and early fall.
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| Numerous species of butterflies (such as the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail shown here), bees, wasps, and other kinds of insects obtain nourishment from Autumn Olive blooms in early spring, making it a superb wildlife plant. |
And perhaps most importantly of all, this shrub contains numerous buds that feed those birds visiting from hundreds of miles away in winter—the white-throats and the juncos—as well as resident Gray Squirrels, during this most difficult time of year to find food.
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| A Gray Squirrel is able to take advantage of freshly sprouted Autumn Olive leaves in late winter when food sources are not yet abundant. |
So why are government biologists and environmentalists determined to remove or pesticide every single Autumn Olive from lands set aside specifically for the benefit of wildlife—as had taken place before I visited the Natural Bridge State Park? The answer lies in an oft-stated but unproven statement that our migratory birds are in trouble mainly because of a dearth of caterpillars, a situation that exists supposedly due to a profusion of nonnative plants.
While it’s true that nonnative plants don’t support an abundance of these particular larvae (Autumn Olive does feed at least one caterpillar species), it’s not at all clear that a dearth of moth larvae (most caterpillars are the immature form of moths) is the result of a dearth of native trees (although currently red oaks are dying, undoubtedly due to more commonly occurring droughts).
Indeed, you’ve probably heard that if every homeowner grew an oak in his yard, suburbia could be transformed into a facsimile of a national park in which warblers and thrushes, etc., could nest. But that idea is simplistic at best and extremely harmful at worst.
If you’ve flown over the eastern part of the U.S. where so many of us live, and had a window seat, you’ve seen that plenty of native trees exist to feed caterpillars. The actual explanation for the dearth of caterpillars is the dearth of moths, and that’s the result of lights burning all night that attract them. A moth circling a light until it’s exhausted is a moth that doesn’t mate and reproduce to leave behind caterpillars that can feed birds.
View the 2023 NASA night image of the United States to see how polluted with light our world has become:
https://www.fws.gov/media/artificial-light-map-united-states-nasa-earth-observatoryjpg
According to National Geographic, the ubiquitous night lighting has even obscured the Milky Way for eighty percent of Americans.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/milky-way-space-science
Still not convinced that night lighting is the problem? Pay attention while driving or walking around your neighborhood. You’ll be amazed by the number of lights burning 24/7 outside people’s homes and local businesses, even in rural areas.
Improving the health of your local environment is easy: Rather than ridding your property of plants disparaged by folks who don’t understand what is actually happening in the environment, just turn off all those unnecessary lights.
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