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Moor Birch, Midwinter |
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Moor Birch, Late Spring |
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The birches have long been popular
ornamental trees in America, chiefly in the northern United
States and Canada. Several are native Americans, but many
species have been introduced from Europe and Asia. In
general, they are graceful trees, the most popular being
those with white bark on trunks and larger branches. Some of
the others are very serviceable, either because they will
grow well in wet soil or because they will exist as well as
any other trees, or better, in dry, poor soils. |
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Animals dependant on
Birch
- Moose: Important browse throughout most of
range. Nutritional quality is poor in winter,
but is important to wintering moose because of
its sheer abundance in young stands.
- White-tailed Deer: though considered a
"secondary-choice food", it is an important
dietary component. In Minnesota, white-tailed
deer eat considerable amounts of birch leaves in
the fall.
- Snowshoe hare browse birch seedlings and
saplings.
- Porcupines feed on the inner bark
- Beaver also eat it though generally prefer
aspen, while willow and paper birch are second
choice foods.
- Voles and shrews eat the seeds.
- Numerous birds and small mammals eat paper
birch buds, catkins and seeds.
- Young paper birch stands provide prime deer
and moose cover.
Birds:
- Numerous cavity-nesting birds nest in birch,
including woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches,
and swallows.
- A favorite feeding tree of yellow-bellied
sapsuckers, which peck holes in the bark to feed
on the sap. Hummingbirds and red squirrels also
feed at sap wells in paper birch created by
sapsuckers.
- Ruffed grouse eat the catkins and buds.
- Redpolls, siskins, and chickadees obtain a
considerable portion of their annual diet from
birch seeds
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