Natural Lands - the magazine of Natural Lands spring-summer 2020 issue | Page 9

NATURAL LANDS . SPRING/SUMMER 2020
7
the best bird feeder.
The diet of the Carolina Chickadee is
made up of 80 to 90 percent insects
and spiders. In fact, each one of
these backyard favorites must find
between six and nine thousand
caterpillars to raise just one clutch
of young to maturity.
So, if birds need bugs—lots
and lots of them—the best way
to support bird populations is to
provide more habitat where insects
can thrive. In his recently published
book, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach
to Conservation That Starts
in Your Yard, University of
Delaware professor
and Natural
Lands Trustee Doug Tallamy asserts
that, in light of habitat loss and a
changing climate, we can no longer
rely solely on nature preserves and
public lands to provide enough habitat
for insects and everything else
that depends on them to sustain
life as we know it. We must begin to
fill our own yards, urban parks, and
roadsides with native trees, shrubs,
and other plants based on their benefit
to insect life.
Tallamy identifies native oaks,
willows, and cherries as keystone
plants: they support significantly
higher numbers of insect species
than other types of trees. He is especially
partial to the mighty oak. “Oaks
in the Mid-Atlantic region support
hundreds of caterpillar species—577
to be exact—making oaks by far the
best plants to include at home if you
want to support food webs.”
Discover the best caterpillar
hosts for your zip code
at www.nwf.org/
NativePlantFinder