Now is the time to plant a snag for wildlife

Ghost trees are what bird lovers call snags. They are dead trees. They are immensely important to wildlife, and are becoming more scarce each day.

Primary cavity-nesters, such as woodpeckers, chisel nest cavities in them and search for insects. Bluebirds, titmice, wren, screech owls and kestrels enjoy nesting in old woodpecker holes. Deer mice, flying squirrels, tree frogs, arboreal snakes and lizards and invertebrates too numerous to mention enjoy the cavities also.

Other birds, not cavity nesters, use snags to launch territorial attacks. The phoebe is one such bird. Vultures enjoy using them for sunning, and hawks nest in the tops of snags.

Many songbirds such as Cardinals, Indigo Buntings and Bluebirds sing from the tops of snags to announce their territories and to attract a mate.

It is not uncommon for one snag to house several different species at different levels. Screech owls and hawks take the top of a snag for a nesting site, while woodpeckers such as the Pileated will choose to excavate a nest about 60 feet up, and squirrels will nest about half way down in a hollow tree.

House wrens favor holes in snags to raise their young also. A dead tree literally teems with life until natural decay takes the final toll and drops the snag to the forest floor where it continues to contribute to the ecosystem. A snag may stand some 30 or more years before it topples.

Dead trees provide a unique life support system for some 85 species of birds in North America. Some 50 mammals use dead trees for dens and nurseries, and innumerable invertebrate find cozy niches in them.

Usually it is the woodpeckers that claim a snag as home. This is why they are labeled primary snag nesters. Other species use their old nests in following years becoming secondary snag nesters. Each year woodpeckers chisel out new nests never going back and using an old nest site which probably has already been claimed by another species.

Screech, saw whet and pygmy owls, house wrens, tree and violet-green swallows, kestrels, bluebirds, chickadees, nuthatches, wood ducks, hooded mergansers, goldeneyes, and buffleheads are secondary nesters using old woodpecker holes.

The large snags are choice ones. The pileated woodpeckers, barred owls and tree-nesting ducks cannot fit into the smaller snags. The large ones offer a wide choice of safe nests. High in a tall snag, it is difficult for predators to reach a nest. It is the big snags that are vanishing from the forests at an alarming rate.

Adding a snag to your back-yard bird feeding station will add interest, attract species that you may not have now, and help cavity nesters. Of course, when you start planting dead trees in your back yard, your neighbors may tend to look the other way as they whisper about your sanity.

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P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education