For Alaskans, May is a marker of many things. For some, it marks the beginning of the tourist or fishing seasons. For others, May is a celebration of native plants.
On May 9, as part of the 33rd annual Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival, and in honor of Alaska Native Plant Month, lifelong birder Mossy Kilcher presented at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center on how local songbirds rely on native plants for subsistence and shelter. She said native plants also provide safe travel for birds by creating natural corridors that help protect them from predators. Native species also supply valuable building materials that help birds craft their nests. Horsetail, dried and pliable from years past, can be weaved into nests as a strong base, along with natural fibers like moose hair in the springtime and fireweed fluff in the late summer.
Alder “The super tree”
You can plant alders to create borders, corridors, shelter belts, windbreaks, halt erosion, and encourage soil building for other native plants. The trees help the forest ecosystem by providing leaf litter and mooseproofing areas. They also help create a “weather-safe tree nursery,” providing ample food and nesting sites. Alders can take wet or rocky ground and quickly turn it into a viable habitat, Kilcher said.
Elderberry
Elderberry trees help create borders to encourage a safe, sheltered nesting habitat. They also provide nourishment for birds in their fall berries. Kilcher noted that elderberry trees are both moose and rabbit-proof, allowing you to easily maintain them without having to worry about fencing. Elderberry trees also build a rich soil for worms and create a safe area for smaller birds, as hawks can often find it difficult to navigate around the delicate trees. Kilcher said that elderberry trees thrive in areas with both pushki and nettles, bringing to mind a kind of Alaska version of the “Three Sisters,” an Indigenous agricultural practice of planting corn, beans and squash together in a way that benefits each plant.
Nettles
Nettles provide rich patches of soil that encourage large populations of worms and create safe nesting areas for ground nesters, like fox sparrows. Kilcher noted that many fledglings also use the dead nettle mounds to hide from predators. She suggests letting nettles grow in conjunction with pushki and horsetail, along the border of yards and along trails.
Pushki (cow parsnip)
Kilcher suggests planting or leaving pushki along borders of yards, along trails, fields, and alder patches to help provide cover, safe nesting areas, and food from the earthworms that thrive around their roots and leaves. She said that in the fall, “many bugs live on the dying plants, attracting all kinds of songbirds.” She said that the birds usually build their nests within the stalks or directly under the plant, hidden from view. She suggests being careful and aware of nesting songbirds in areas with dense pushki, nettles, and horsetail, as the nests can oftentimes be difficult to spot and easy for a hiker or loose dog to disrupt or harm.
Birch
Kilcher advised leaving old and dying birches on your property for as long as possible, calling them “treasures that are hard to replicate, as they are virtual condominiums.” She said birch trees provide important food sources for birds like nuthatches, chickadees and woodpeckers, and ample stashing room in their bark for seeds. They also provide the opportunity for larger birds to nest in their branches and hollows as well, including owls and tree swallows in birch tree cavities; yellow-rumped warblers and robins in the boughs; and warblers, alder flycatchers, and thrushes in some of the younger trees.
Spruce “The all-in-one tree”
Spruce is perhaps the most iconic native tree. Kilcher said the dead trunks and sumps provide great nesting spots for three-toed woodpeckers to build a cavity in. The mature trees are frequently chosen by local corvids, raptors and owls, while younger trees are popular with siskins, varied thrushes, hermit thrushes, redpolls and Townsend’s warbler. Kilcher said it’s key to have spruce trees of various stages of growth around your property, to support a diversity of birds, noting that some species are fairly particular about their choice of spruce tree.
Willows
Willow trees are an excellent food source for birds, providing buds and bugs for hungry birds. She noted that while willows may seem useless to humans, they are beloved by local birds and very easy to plant, thriving in wet soil.
Rose and raspberry bushes
Kilcher said that these “thorny, thick patches” are ideal protection for small sparrows and warblers. The flowers of the plants attract plenty of bugs and, later in the season, fresh berries help feed pheasants and thrushes. Alder flycatchers, hermit thrush, yellow warblers, sparrows, and redpoll have all been known to nest in rose and raspberry bushes, according to Kilcher.
Dandelion
These flowers attract many early insects, according to Kilcher, allowing birds like sparrows and thrushes to feed on flies and wasps with ease, and helping them feed fledglings in late spring and early summer. She said that in the late summer and fall when dandelion flowers go to seed, the iconic, white floaters are “universally beloved” by seedeaters like pine grosbeak, redpoll, sparrows and siskins.
Native blue joint and beach rye grass
Kilcher advises leaving wild grasses undisturbed “whenever possible” since the grass hummocks help provide essential cover for many meadow-dwelling and ground-nesting birds, like Savannah sparrows. She also pointed out that the wild, native grasses help keep invasive plants from spreading and taking over. Their seeds provide food for birds and, of course, the grass itself makes a wonderful nesting material.
Horsetail
Another “universal, basic nesting material” for local birds, Kilcher described horsetail as “practically indestructible” and “an ancient plant with deep roots.” The hardy plant thrives in both bare and boggy conditions and its dead stems help form the nests of many local bird species.
Fireweed
While the beautiful, late summer fireweed fuzz is often used for lining local bird nests, the plants themselves also help provide shelter, especially the fallen, dead stalks at the end of the summer. While flowering, bugs are attracted to the plants, helping provide easily accessible food for birds. Kilcher suggests encouraging fireweed growth along local fences and yards, as well as allowing entire fireweed meadows to develop for “the birds and the bees.” She said that Savannah sparrows often use fireweed as “a singing perch.”
The Alaska Native Plant Society offers field guides and checklists for native plants observed along several Alaska trails and backcountry areas. For the Kenai Peninsula, you can find Palmer Creek and Portage Valley field guides online at aknps.org/field-guides/.
You can also find a list of publications available for free download on the ANPS website, including extensive and varied writings on gardening with Alaska native plants, respectful harvesting guidelines, edible and medicinal native plants, invasive plants, and bird habitats.
Reach reporter Chloe Pleznac at chloe.pleznac@homernews.com.
