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Josh: Chill out on the tallow trees!



Joshua:

Chill out, please with the rants.  I never said Tallow
trees were beneficial or good for the birds - I was
reporting on the Oriole's changed feeding behavior /
plant choice.  The chip on your shoulder seems to have
caused you to read more into it than I wrote.

I know all that and more about Tallow trees.  They are
something like the second-worst at Co2 storing (they
put out just as much as they take in), they fill in
wetlands, they crowd out native species, they don't
host insects, etc. etc. etc.    

However, they are here to stay.  Unfortunately, there
is nothing you or anyone else can do about it except
slow the process.  Getting rude every time someone
simply mentions their name (I wasn't saying they're
good or anything) makes this an unenjoyable list.  We
hear you, OK?  
BTW, I joined this LISTSERV for bird-related topics
not increasingly rude plant rants.   If everyone
ranted against their pet peeve (lawn chemicals, Drano,
insecticides, industrial hog farms, etc) this list
would be lousy.  Please don't follow through on your
threat to SPAM the list with off-topic botanical
rants.

One comment:  unlike some other invader species, at
least Tallow berries provide food for birds.  This is
why they spread so much and so fast.  

Nathan Dias Charleston, SC.

PS Nearly all our other yard plants are native -
Yaupon Holly, Elaeagnus, Red Cedar, Live Oak, Wax
Myrtle, Salt Bush, Tulip Poplar, Tupelo, etc...  I
cannot remove the pair of Tallow trees because my
folks call the shots (I am visiting home from San
Francisco).

PPS I sometimes take a machete on field trips and
"ring" Tallow trees in pristine/sensitive/wild areas. 
I prefer to take my anger out on the trees rather than
fellow birders.  

--- "Joshua S. Rose" <jsr6@duke.edu> wrote:
> They're worse than that! In case you missed the
> little detail the last
> time I posted about this, as well as Johnny
> Randall's talk at the Carolina
> Bird Club winter meeting, Chinese Tallow Tree
> supports NO insect life. As
> they spread and crowd out native plants, as they are
> doing devastatingly
> in northern Florida and somewhat slower in coastal
> South Carolina, migrant
> insectivores like warblers and vireos are left
> foraging in lifeless
> wastelands.
> 
> There are dozens of native tree and shrub species
> that produce winter
> fruits which are eaten by orioles, waxwings, and
> other birds, *and* host
> lots of caterpillars which feed insectivorous birds
> the rest of the year
> when the fruit is out of season. Beautyberry,
> Persimmon, various species
> of Holly and Viburnum, Red Cedar Wax Myrtle, all
> kinds of others...
> 
> People can stop pretending that these trees are good
> for birds; they are
> NOT. If I keep hearing about it, I'm going to go
> into the Texbirds archive
> and start forwarding information from there to here
> about it. Trust me, I
> haven't even *begun* to swamp anyone with e-mail
> about this!
> 
> Good birding, but it'll get better if we get rid of
> all the Chinese Tallow
> Trees,
> 
> Josh
> 
> 
> Joshua S. Rose
> Duke University
> Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)
> 
> jsr6@duke.edu
> http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/


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