Abode of the Acorn Woodpecker: to be chopped down as usual

One or All of these magnificent 200 year old trees(? do not know exact age- they could be older!) will be chopped down: soon. I have seen blue jays and acorn woodpeckers frequent this stand of trees.

At the Orenco station for the inter city train line in Hillsboro, Oregon, USA is a stand of old magnificent Oregon White Oaks. Till recently I did not know anything about these trees. I would get off at the station, and be off to work. As a transplant from across the world, the trees did not mean  much to me- they looked like other trees and I did not know that it was an oak tree.

About a couple of months ago, I got off the train as usual, and noticed that there was a woman at the station who was asking people to sign a petition. I was almost about to walk by, when I overheard what she said to someone else, "Saving the oaks over here".

I talked to her and found out that she was asking people to sign a petition to show the city of Hillsboro that there were people who cared about the oaks; Oregon White Oaks that were slow growing trees; trees that were at least 200 years old; trees vital to the ecosystem which provide food and shelter to a myriad range of species- the magical interconnected web of nature. I signed the petition to voice my support.

On the same day, when I was coming back from work, I saw the same woman standing in the blazing hot summer sun asking people to sign the petition. I felt sorry for her, and admired her love for the trees.

Panoramic view of the property where houses will be built: looking west from the sidewalk on the edge of the property. The property is currently owned by Trimet.

A bit of googling led me to find out about the trees and the region. OreNCo stands for Oregon Nursery Company, which used to operate in this region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The MAX train line property was initially part of the Oregon Electric Railroad, which was planning to build a branch train line from Portland to Hillsboro via Beaverton. Trimet currently owns the "Right of Way" - on which the current train line and property stands.

There is a developer who wants to build a $120 million housing complex in this area, and the initial plan was to chop down the trees: because the trees would get stressed during the construction, and eventually die. The latest news is that the city recommends chopping down one of the three large trees: (here is the link to the article in a local newspaper with the story:
http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2013/07/platform_district_2_white_oaks.html)

Curiously, the newspaper article mentions the citizens petition which I had signed, (along with around 140 other people). I could not find the citizens group online through my initial googling.

According to some people a tree needs water in its dripline area to survive. The dripline is the area under the tree from which water can be partaken. Recently, some scientists think that the dripline for a tree may extend as far as twice the distance from the base of the tree to outermost extent of the foliage. Here is an article containing the questions posed by the citizens, and some of the controversy regarding how the health of the tree is assessed. :http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2013/06/holland_hillsboro_arborists_me.html

A fallen acorn (The seed of the Oregon White Oak)on the ground at the Orenco Train Station. Birds like the scrub-jay and the acorn woodpecker depend on this as a vital source of food.

Of Seeds and Birds

Acorn Woodpecker with an acorn from an Oregon White Oak in its mouth at the nearby Dawson Creek.

Recently, I went on a birding trip to a nearby area in Hillsboro, called Dawson Creek by the Hillsboro Public Library. I was with an excellent group of birders, and among the many birds we observed was the Acorn Woodpecker. It was my first time seeing this bird in action. I had seen glimpses of it in the past, but here I saw all the drama of a bird trying to drill a hole in its tree; the cache location being observed by other birds, the bird flying to another tree nearby and resting and observing other birds caching the seeds. After observing them for over half an hour, a bird landed close to me, and I was able to get some good pictures of this bird.

Holes drilled into trees to cache acorns by the Acorn Woodpecker.

The acorns (seed of an Oak tree) contains bitter tannin. The tannin is thought to prevent the absorption of protein into the body, and thus this nut does not contain easily absorb-able nutrients, and prevents a bird from putting on much bio-mass. The native people of this area used to soak the acorns in water to leach out the bitter tannin, and make a flour out of the dried nuts.

The Oregon White Oak is a slow growing tree whose seeds form a vital part of the diet for many birds in the area. It is facing habitat loss in much of the areas around the Portland metro area. According to the Metro.gov website, only about 1% of the original 500,000 acres of the original oak savannah habitat remains in the WillametteValley, (most of it lost to agriculture). In many parks like the Mount Talbert park in Clackamas county, fast growing fir trees are "girdled" to kill them; this allows the slow growing Oregon White Oak to survive.

Acorn Woodpecker in an Oak Tree.