Why I love forests

Prince Edward Island is awash with great birding habitats. Watching the loons and razorbills off the coast at East Point never gets old. Nor do the large flocks of scaup and other winter ducks that frequent Oyster Bay Bridge. Or the after-harvest corn fields around Vernon Bridge full of geese and snow buntings.

I love all these sites and many more.  But truth be told, I fell in love with forests as a result of my interest in birds. Island forests keep drawing me back. For years I was part of a team that banded birds at two Macphail Woods sites. It was part of a continent-wide initiative to try to understand what was happening to bird populations. Were they successful in their migrations? Were they raising families that could replace the losses that inevitably result from age, predation, or habitat destruction?

What I really learned from those years was that our environment is fragile and full of unknowns, and that we should act accordingly. How does a bird weighing 10 grams fly south to a place where it has never been before? How do birds migrate back not only to the same area but to be captured in the exact same net as in previous years?

Equally important was the recognition of the beauty that is all around us. I had watched thousands of black-capped chickadees in my life, but until I held one in my hand I hadn’t realized how beautiful they were. Anyone who has watched birds knows the beauty of migratory warblers in the spring—an American redstart or blackburnian warbler is a work of art. I’ve followed these birds in my binoculars countless times and appreciated their glamour. But seeing them up close—not through lenses—and understanding that they are even more beautiful and fragile really struck home.  

We take for granted that beautiful birds will always be around but that doesn’t have to be the case. There are threats both in the summer and winter habitats and along the migration routes. Most birds migrate at night and lights in buildings can disorient the migrants and cause them to strike windows. A recent study by scientists from the American Bird Conservancy estimates that one billion birds die from window strikes in the U.S. alone! That is a shockingly high number, though it is just one of the threats to birds.  

Pesticides are having an increasingly negative impact on many types of wildlife, especially insectivores and pollinators.

We are also creating major problems with wildlife with how we are managing forests across the continent. We still we refuse to enforce the Migratory Birds Convention Act, which was designed to safeguard migratory birds by protecting their nests from cutting during the prime breeding season.

And despite what Fiona has taught us—that stands of shallow-rooted conifer plantations are susceptible to blow-down—we continue with this ill-fated strategy pretending that we are rebuilding forests. 

While birds bring us beauty, they also provide many other values that are equally important. They can eat large numbers of caterpillars and other insects that that feed on the leaves of trees. Bird droppings contain high amounts of nitrogen, a nutrient that is in demand (but often short supply) in forests. Birds can also transport seeds and spores throughout a woodland that can increase biodiversity and improve forest health.

We need to make a concerted effort to understand the values that healthy forests—and all their residents—provide. Beautiful birds are just one of many gifts provided by forests.