Day 20 Who Would eat Cones still on the Tree
.5 miles, mid 20s, sunshine, no wind. Beautiful. Walked a commercial portion of Canco Road. very icy underfoot. Noted a pitch pine with some of the cones partially destroyed. Scales removed, showing either the seeds or seed attachments within. All the cones on the tree were partially open and appeared dead. I read that cones open in warm weather to allow the seeds to more easily germinate. Apparently squirrels, crossbills and woodpeckers eat cones. The squirrels seem to be the culprit in this case, because they leave the scales and cores. The cones open for pollination in April and May, and the seeds are shed in August to October. The dry cones can stay on the tree for up to 10 years. Pitch pine provides a habitat and offers food for many wildlife species. They are used as cover and nesting for birds such as the pine warbler, wild turkey, red-cockaded woodpecker, great-crested flycatchers, blue jays, black-capped chickadees, black-and-white warblers, Nashville warblers, and chestnut-sided warblers. it is the predominant pine on Cape Cod and the New Jersey Pine barrens, and grows only north as far as central Maine.
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