Brush Piles are great habitats for wildlife
I had a bit of a rant about my neighbor’s invasive Norway Maple trees, but at least there has been two benefits of having these trees so near to my house.
Benefits? Am I kidding? Yes, these are truly nasty trees in their impact on native ecosystems, but let’s make a little lemonade, shall we?
The first benefit comes from the brush pile that’s made from all the branches that drop from the trees every time the wind blows. Our neighbor’s handyman started this pile so he could mow the lawn. Before he could even begin mowing, he’d walk around and drag all of the fallen branches to a spot visible from my deck.
Over time, we have added to this pile, dragging the large branches that fell into the yard, landed on my roof, or crashed onto the deck through the fence and throwing them onto this pile.
Even though I really hate these trees, I’ve discovered that this brush pile is a bonanza to all kinds of wildlife, including Cardinals, wrens, thrushes, warblers, sparrows, as well as toads, snakes, squirrels, and overwintering butterflies.
I’ve spent hours perched on my deck, binoculars in hand, watching a seemingly endless parade of birds and other wildlife as they used this pile for cover and picking among the twigs for bugs and other tasty snacks.
Brush piles are a very important habitat element for many different kinds of wildlife. They provide cover from predators and places for nests, escape routes, and dens. Many insects are attracted to this pile of decomposing wood, which provides a bounty of food for birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals.
And the best part is, brush piles are very easy to build, and they keep a lot of yard waste out of landfills:
- Start with the largest branches and logs and loosely stack them log cabin style.
- Do not use pressure treated lumber, creosoted railroad ties, tires, or lead-painted lumber as these materials contain toxic chemicals which leech into the soil and pollute our waterways.
- Rocks and stones can also be used in this base section to provide additional hiding spaces for wildlife.
- Cover the top of this base with smaller branches until you have a tall pile that resembles an igloo.
- The pile will shrink every year as the wood decomposes and you can just keep adding new materials to the top.
- Plant native vines such as Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), or American Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) around the base to provide more shelter and to hide the pile. Do NOT plant Oriental Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) because it is extremely invasive and difficult to eradicate.
- Border the pile with locally native wildflowers, which provide nectar for native pollinators.
- Or screen the pile with fruiting native shrubs which provide much needed food for wildlife, especially migrating birds.
That’s it. You’ve now added a very important habitat element for wildlife in your garden. You can now sit back and watch the birds and other wildlife make use of your gift to them. Grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair, and enjoy the show.
Woodpecker nest holes in Norway Maple
What’s the second benefit provided by these noxious trees? Woodpeckers!
We have watched Downy Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers successfully build their nests and raise their young in the trunks of these trees, especially the trunks where the tops have snapped off.
Norway Maples are only good for one thing: Woodpeckers!
Every spring the air is filled with the wonderful tap-tap-tapping sound of all the woodpeckers who are drilling out a new nest hole. The nest building is amazing to watch as each member of the pair takes turn drilling away and tossing the chips out of the hole.
But nothing is as exciting as the day the young fledglings emerge from the hole for their first flight!
I am so happy that we have gotten a double dose of “lemonade” in the form of necessary habitat elements for the wildlife around me from these trees that should never be planted in any landscape.
What wildlife comes to your brush pile? What other habitat elements do you have in your garden? Share your sightings in the comments below.
Here’s some other habitat element to add to your Ecosystem Garden:
How to Install a Dragonfly Pond
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About Carole Sevilla Brown
What a great kind of lemonade. You almost made me want a Norway Maple there!!!!! I guess instead I’ll go for making a brush pile… just need to figure out where to put it.
Wonderful post and beautiful photos! I didn’t know it could be so easy to create your own wildlife habitat… I’m a stick pile maker from way back… who knew!
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I have done this project with school groups for years — kids love making these animal homes! Cheers- Bethe @balmeras
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Hello Carole ,
I appreciate the comment about making lemonade out of lemons but if I could make a few observations . Brush piles are something I took some time to study .
My first brush pile was simply a pile of slash from prunings I did as maintenence on my property here in Aridzona . It was a glorious pile some 5 to 6 feet tall when I was pruning that year . Birds were investigating it even as I was constructing it , urging me to get it done so they could move in which they promptly did within hours/days . In less than a year that pile had compressed to some 2 to 3 feet tall so the importance of building a stout core structure . Investigating many sites (a great many states Department of Natural Resources or thier equivlents provide some rather extensive details and drawings into the construction of brush piles) , most suggesting a stacked log core such as here at an ehow site ;
http://www.ehow.com/how_2076006_build-brush-pile-wildlife.html
One will notice on the margins at the Ehow site how a brush pile can be modded a bit to target more specific species .
Well living in the desert of ARIDzona as I do logs such as are suggested come at a premium or are somewhat hard to obtain . I came across some site of which I cannot recall just now that using wooden shipping pallets such as is used in commerical trucking/shipping accomplished much the same thing as a stacked log core . Possibly even better , pallets have a lot of open space between the planks that they are constructed with . You will find that the average pallet measures some 48″ x 40″ x 5 1/2 to 6 ” high . Right about the dimensions suggested for a stacked log core . But the pallets stay in rigid form less likely to shift and easier to stack with the bonus of having more open space within its form .
I found another bonus to them but let me digress a moment . Some objections to brush piles are (1) that they can be a fire hazard, (2) they can attract vermin and what some comnsider pest species , skunks and the like, (3) some consider them to be unsightly .
All considerations , some municipalities have outlawed brush piles ;
http://www.roundrocktexas.gov/home/index.asp?page=215
Planting shrubbery, vines around a brush pile such as suggested is one way to overcome the unsightliness aspect of it as well as enhancing the usefullness of a pile .
Now an adaptation I came up with that can possibly deal with some of the possible undesireable tenants that could take up in a pile . After looking at a stack of pallets I pondered as to how to possibly eliminate predators from entering .
My target species that I was building brush piles for were Gambels Quail . I also have a problem with feral cats and wished to deny the cats entry into the core .
It occured to me that I had seen quail pass through chain link fencing .
Ah ha , I would construct slip covers made of chain link fabric to go over a pallet core . 4 foot chain link fabric is the ideal . If one starts below ground level ( I trenched around the exterior of the pallet stack) staking the fabric to the bottom of the trench, then going up the side across the top and down the other side to the bottom of the trech there . This stretches the fabric to maintain desired opening . Having done this it leaves the two short sides of 40 inches . Cutting two more pieces of four foot fabric it can be cut that it is oversized giving enough fabric to wrap around corners tying down loose ends .
Now an excluder has been created that will likely deter most predators, nuisance species .
The aspect of a normal brush pile being a fire hazard I’ve not come up with an idea yet , it is what it is .
BUT !
A second type of brush pile can be made . Called a “living” brush pile , these could be made and sidestep some of the objections of the powers that be . These normally apparently are made from a tight grove of living saplins/younger trees . Cutting the trunks close to the base sufficently to allow them to bend and arching thier tops to the ground staking them into place and allowing thier crowns to merge into an extremely dense thicket . I have yet to try one of these myself but it would overcome the unsightly and fire hazard asapect that is raised as objections .
A few sites where “living brush piles” are describes at more length ;
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0785/
http//www.portal.state.pa.us/…/amp_c3_vine_tangles__living_brush_piles__pdf
http://fw.ky.gov/brushpil.asp
“5. Living brush piles
Cedar trees, 4 to 6 inches in diameter, may be partially cut through the trunk or “hinge cut” in a manner that allows the tops of the trees to rest on the ground while remaining connected to the root system. If done correctly, the top of the cedar provides cover for small wildlife. Cut several cedars to fall to a central point with the tops all touching.
Build this type:
- in areas where 4 or 5 cedars grow closely together.
- in areas that will not be prescribe burned.”
Unfortunately brush piles also add habitat to slugs in my region. I keep the brush piles well away from the gardens.
My small hobby farm boasts of about 150 mature trees and a large “brushy” grove so I enjoy all naturally built bird and animal habitats. It’s wonderful! I just have to add a few more bird houses and feeders along with their watering sites and go get that lemonade! Do any of you have problems with skunks moving into brush piles?