[obol] Russian Olive/habitat discussion & native birds

[mike denny]

Hello Bruce and All,
 It is very good to hear from you. I hope you are well and ready for spring. Here in the Columbia Basin The Russian Olive was introduced about 1882 and planted extensively around homesteads and wetlands in an effort to dry them out so the land could be farmed. I do wish this tree had never been introduced and would never ask that another one be planted. However the facts are that by the late 1940s and early 1970s this tree was being planted by all of the state wildlife agencies in an effort to gain shelter belts for wildlife in areas that lacked cover. With the continued introduction of game birds into areas that did not have native winter thermal cover plants. In eastern Oregon and Washington where soils were alkali and very little would grow this tree was the planted. What we have observed in the Lower Columbia Basin is that the Russian Olive thickets are where the following species of native birds winter. Long-eared Owl, Varied Thrush, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin, Northern Saw-Whet Owl plus 90 other species. This tree is now the primary nesting site for black-billed magpies and subsequently also the very dependant Long-eared Owl. There is not one alkali tolerant native tree species that produces the quality of winter forage (drupes) or thermal cover in the lower basin along the Columbia River that the Russian olive does. I completely agree it is a nasty plant that damages the hydrology of areas it dominates and it deprives many native plants of badly needed nutrients to grow. Its seed bed is well established and we will not get rid of it anytime soon. So as a result of the very poor choice to introduce this tree many native birds now utilize it to the point that large numbers of native birds winter in it. Yellow-rumped Warbler is a species that some winters can be found in the hundreds in Russian olive thickets feeding on insect egg masses located within the drupes.
I will post with permission the article about Russian olives here in the Lower Columbia Basin and the native birds that use them. This write-up is located in WOSNews 103. It will be up by Monday or Tuesday at www.bluemountainaudubon.org 

Take care and have a dry weekend.
Later Mike 

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Mike & MerryLynn Denny
1354 S. E. Central Ave.
College Place, WA  99324
509.529.0080 (h)

IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN BIRDING, YOU HAVEN'T LIVED!
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