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tallows and apology



Hi again,

I want to apologize, formally and publicly, for my tone when I posted last
night. That's what I get for e-mailing when I ought to be in bed... Sorry
for being so belligerent and confrontational.

On Mon, 27 Jan 2003, Nathan Dias wrote:
>
> However, they are here to stay.  Unfortunately, there is nothing you or
> anyone else can do about it except slow the process.

Now THIS part I have to disagree with. Especially when we're talking about
trees, which grow slowly and cannot reproduce until they are at least a
few years old. If we gave up this easy on every bird-related problem, we'd
still be eating DDT-sprayed vegetables, and shade-grown coffee would not
even exist. It's just a matter of getting the word out to all our friends,
relatives, neighbors, businesses, and government officials and agencies
that these things are bad. I meet people every day, in my own
neighborhood, who don't know that (for example) ivy is English. And even
here on the listserv, even today, I received a note thanking me from
someone who missed my first rant about Chinese Tallow Trees, and did not
know until now that they were a threat to bird species diversity.

> BTW, I joined this LISTSERV for bird-related topics not increasingly
> rude plant rants.

Again, I apologize; my tone was rude last night, I admit it.

> 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.

Now hold on; if you're going to ask that I not send more botanical
information (which is *not* off-topic, it pertains directly to birds in
the Carolinas), then you have to stop mitigating the Tallow problem. Most
of the worst invasive plant species make berries that are eaten by birds,
including English Ivy, Japanese Honeysuckle, Russian- and Autumn-Olive,
Ligustrum/Privet, Brazilian Pepper, Nandina/Heavenly Bamboo, Oriental
Bittersweet, Porcelain-berry, Multiflora Rose, and many others. But the
berries feed only a few common species, while they threaten rare and
endangered species through habitat loss, and insectivorous neotropical
migrants through their crowding out of bug-friendly natives.

> PS Nearly all our other yard plants are native -
> Yaupon Holly, Elaeagnus, Red Cedar, Live Oak, Wax
> Myrtle, Salt Bush, Tulip Poplar, Tupelo, etc...

Sounds beautiful - except for the Elaeagnus, which is *another* invasive
exotic species. Elaeagnus is Eurasian; the genus includes Russian-Olive,
Autumn-Olive, and a few others. The Irvin Tract near Chapel Hill, which is
slated to become a Triangle Land Conservancy preserve in the near future,
is infested with one of these species; you can barely reach the creek in
some sections because of the riparian belt of this plant.

> I cannot remove the pair of Tallow trees because my
> folks call the shots (I am visiting home from San
> Francisco).

Sorry to hear that. I'd be happy to talk to them about it...

> 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.

Excellent! If I'm ever in your neighborhood, I'd be happy to lend a hand!

Good birding,

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/