Trees and Nashville Wildlife Part 1: Birds
Birds in Nashville’s Canopy
For birds, tree canopies provide essential habitats, and for trees, birds provide a range of supportive services that help maintain them throughout their lives and across generations. In this article on the fauna of Nashville’s canopy, we’ll explore the deep connections that exist between birds and trees. We’ll also share some tips on selecting trees to attract birds to your own yard to help support the local bird population.
The Tree Canopy as a Bird Habitat
For most types of birds, trees are essential features of the environment, providing the infrastructure of their habitats. Tree canopies are both sources of food and shelter to rest, socialize, or nest and raise their young.
Birds, as a huge group of species, have a wide range of diets based on their size and home ecosystems:
Seeds – Some birds, including cardinals, wrens, sparrows, finches, chickadees, and doves, are primarily seed eaters but often supplement seasonally with other foods like berries and insects.
Fruit – Warblers, robins, waxwings, bluebirds, and many other species of birds eat berries and other types of fruit, often as part of a varied or seasonal diet.
Sap and Nectar – Sapsuckers and hummingbirds are attracted to the sweet carbohydrates produced by maple trees, birch trees, and flowering tulip poplars.
Nuts – Jays, crows, and woodpeckers, as well as turkeys and ducks, eat nuts like acorns and beechnuts produced by oaks and beech trees.
Insects – Many types of birds forage for insects under bark, on branches and leaves, and in the soil under trees. Insect larvae, worms, and caterpillars are particularly important sources of nutrients for baby birds, while adults also eat spiders and mature insects of all kinds. Different species of trees host different species of insects, and native trees are particularly important for native insect populations, as well as local birds.
Carnivores – Some large bird species, like owls and hawks, eat small rodents and amphibians, as well as fish and smaller birds.
Scavengers – Certain birds, such as the black vulture and turkey vulture, eat and clear away carcasses of medium and large mammals, which helps prevent the spread of diseases like rabies.
In addition to providing nutrients and energy, tree habitats offer a place for birds of all kinds to rest, rejuvenate, and reproduce in safety from ground predators. Some birds build nests on the branches of trees (and build nests from smaller parts of trees like leaves, stems, and twigs), while others nest in trunk cavities.
How Do Trees Benefit From Birds?
Many ecosystem services that birds perform positively impact canopy health, which in turn promotes productivity in the environment. These bird-given services include:
Seed spread
Pollination
Insect population control
Nutrient decomposition
When birds eat berries and other fruits, they carry the seeds to other places, and those undigested seeds may have the opportunity to grow to maturity, propagating any given species of tree. Certain birds—hummingbirds in particular—facilitate flower pollination, further helping flowering trees to reproduce.
Many types of birds eat insects of all kinds at all stages of life. Within the food web, some population control of insects is managed by birds who eat lots of caterpillars and larvae, as well as mature insects, preventing their numbers from getting too high.
In general, birds are decomposers, contributing to the nutrient cycle and enriching the soil by eating a variety of foods and transporting nutrients from one place to another. When those easily accessed nutrients are incorporated into the soil below a tree, the roots are able to absorb and use the nutrition in abundance.
Birdscaping a Backyard
“Birdscaping” is landscaping for bird habitats. We can intentionally attract birds (and other Nashville wildlife) to our yards by planting attractive features such as shrubs, native grass, seed-producing flowers and, of course, trees!
Deciduous Canopy Trees – Big trees like oaks, maples, elms, and catalpas are important refuges for birds of all kinds, hosting a wide variety of food sources.
Deciduous Understory Trees – Shorter trees, such as dogwood, serviceberry, mulberry, and fruiting trees like apple and cherry, are important for filling in vertical vegetative coverage, adding to the variety of food options made available to birds.
Evergreen Shrubs and Trees—Dense, bushy evergreens like pines, firs, holly, southern magnolias, and the eastern red cedar provide protective cover to birds of all kinds in the winter when deciduous trees are bare, while evergreens are a favorite nesting place for owls year-round.
A mix of deciduous and evergreen trees of various sizes provides year-round coverage and seasonal variety to a property's ecosystem. Bird feeders and baths also add easy access to provisions, keeping birds fed and watered when sources may otherwise be scarce. With the right features, every yard has the potential to be a stopover site for birds at any moment!
What Is Tennessee’s State Bird?
The Tennessee state bird is the northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos), a cloudy gray, year-round local whose melodious calls and imitations of other bird songs make it a star. You can attract this charming bird to your yard by planting sycamore, maple, and mulberry trees.
Birdwatching in Nashville
Since birds go pretty much everywhere, we can birdwatch almost anywhere! In our backyards, throughout our neighborhoods, and in wilderness areas around the city, there are plenty of opportunities to view local birds in Nashville trees. Check out these birdwatching resources for more information:
Invest in a nice pair of binoculars, comfortable shoes or hiking boots, and a field guide to make the most of your birdwatching experience.
The Value of Birds in Nashville
Since they both improve an environment with their presence and require a productive ecosystem to live in, birds are indicators of high nature value in terms of ecosystem services, biodiversity, and enjoyment potential.
When you know the needs of your favorite Nashville birds, you can attract them to your yard by maintaining the kind of landscape they like! Consider browsing the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps’ tree sale, which offers a wide range of native trees that will attract a variety of Nashville’s local bird species to your yard for your viewing pleasure and the health of the local ecosystem.
Help us plant trees in Nashville by registering to volunteer, and be sure to subscribe to our email newsletter to stay updated with the latest on Nashville’s canopy!