Pine Forets and Northern Hemisphere birdlife

Roger Giller queried the position of birdlife in northern hemisphere pine forests, specifically mentioning natural pine forests. A number of bird species and families are found in northern hemisphere pine forests, including several who have specifically adapted to eat the seeds in pine cones. The most famous of those is the crossbill family (including Common Crossbill, Parrot Crossbill and Scottish Crossbill) that have evolved powerful cross over beaks specifically adapted to extract the seed in large pine cones. Amongst the birdlife found in pine forests include the Crested Tit, Pine Grosbeak, several species of Corvids and of the Owl, Grouse and Woodpecker families. Words such as “Pine” (e.g. Pine Grosbeak, Pine Siskin) and “Spruce” (e.g. Spruce Grouse) in the names of some species tell you the habitat in which the bird is dominantly found. Different species of pine will attract a different mix of species, for example forests dominated by larch species, that have small cones, will attract different species to the large cone bearing pines. Here in the UK, the remnants of the great Caledonian Pine Forests are a mix of tree species, including birch and oak, but dominated by the Scots Pine. This forest, in the rocky Scottish Highlands, is almost exclusively the home of the endemic Scottish Crossbill and, in the UK, of the Crested Tit and Capercaille. Many other bird species are also found in this forest. Pine plantations are often monocultures of one pine species, deliberately grown close together to prevent side light and force straight growth and minimal side branches. Minimal plant diversity, minimal insect and bird diversity. Fairly simple cause and effect situation. Angus Innes. Information in this message may be confidential and may be legally privileged. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify the sender immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else. We have checked this email and its attachments for viruses. But you should still check any attachment before opening it. We may have to make this message and any reply to it public if asked to under the Freedom of Information Act, Data Protection Act or for litigation. Email messages and attachments sent to or from any Environment Agency address may also be accessed by someone other than the sender or recipient, for business purposes. To report this email as SPAM, please forward it to spam@websense.com