{"id":97106,"date":"2021-11-07T05:48:11","date_gmt":"2021-11-07T12:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=97106"},"modified":"2021-11-07T06:36:30","modified_gmt":"2021-11-07T13:36:30","slug":"drought-stricken-douglas-firs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/07\/drought-stricken-douglas-firs\/","title":{"rendered":"Drought-stricken Douglas Firs – How It Is Affecting The Birds That Eat The Seeds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DouglasDouglas Fir cones
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

When I was out in the sky island mountains of the West Desert of Utah a few days ago I was again met with virtual silence in and around the Douglas Firs that are there.<\/p>\n

I heard one<\/em> note of a call from a Red-breasted Nuthatch. I saw a few Dark-eyed Juncos. I neither heard nor saw Mountain Chickadees, Pine Siskins or White-crowned Sparrows.<\/p>\n

This time of the year the bird activity near and in the Douglas Firs should be hectic as the birds feed and cache the seeds of these firs. In the past few months I have written about my concerns regarding the seed production of the firs because of our drought conditions and the fact that quite a few of the birds here depend on the seeds of the Douglas Firs.<\/p>\n

Note: The scales of the Douglas Fir cones opened later in the season this year than they normally do and the scales must be open for the birds to extract the seeds. I mentioned that in previous posts about the firs this year here<\/span><\/a> and here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This year the birds aren’t feeding on the seeds of these particular fir trees and I believe that is directly related to the extreme drought conditions we had during the period of seed production for the firs.<\/p>\n

\"DouglasDouglas Fir cones at home – Cell phone photo
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I decided while I was out in the field to bring three cones home with me so I could look at them more closely and attempt to see if the seeds were harvestable and viable. The photo above is of two of those cones.<\/p>\n

I lifted the scales of the cones with my fingernails. I looked and looked for seeds. I found only a few that were plump, probably<\/em> viable, and may contain enough calories for the birds.<\/p>\n

\"DouglasDouglas Fir seed<\/span><\/p>\n

The photo above shows one of the fir seeds.<\/p>\n

I worked hard at finding the plump fir seeds in those three cones and finally I gave up when I didn’t find many.<\/p>\n

The birds may have given up too. Looking for and extracting seeds requires them to use their precious energy reserves and if they are met with fewer seeds or seeds that have shriveled due to the drought in the Douglas Firs they might have moved on to other food sources that are easier to find.<\/p>\n

\"UpsideUpside down Red-breasted Nuthatch eating a Douglas Fir seed<\/span><\/p>\n

I may have figured out why I am not seeing or hearing the birds near the Douglas Firs in those mountains but that hasn’t alleviated my concerns for the survival of those birds this winter. Without the important food source the Douglas Firs normally provide them I have to wonder what the impact on the birds will be. It is not like there are any bird feeders nearby.<\/p>\n

It is disconcerting and sad to be in those mountains and not see or hear the birds that should be there.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my flower, shrub and tree photos.\u00a0 Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Red-breasted Nuthatch photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

Conifers \u2013 especially Doug-firs \u2013 are suffering from drought<\/span> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was out in the sky island mountains of the West Desert of Utah a few days ago I was again met with virtual silence in and around the Douglas Firs that are there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,3700,358,26,1314],"tags":[4004,6480,4897,195,7708,6879,6877,3681,12011,8009,12509,12510,6909,12507,4069,4927,4928,6878,7707,3701,7706,12537,3702,10452],"class_list":["post-97106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-red-breasted-nuthatches","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-adult","tag-alpine","tag-branch","tag-canyons","tag-cone","tag-cones","tag-douglas-fir","tag-drought","tag-drought-conditions","tag-fir","tag-fir-tree","tag-fir-trees","tag-firs","tag-mature","tag-mountains","tag-nuthatch","tag-nuthatches","tag-pseudotsuga-menziesii","tag-pseudotsuga-menziesii-var-glauca","tag-red-breasted-nuthatch","tag-rocky-mountain-douglas-fir","tag-seed-production","tag-sitta-canadensis","tag-sky-island-mountains"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/douglas-fir-cones-close-up-mia-mcpherson-3223.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-pge","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":95701,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/09\/27\/thoughts-on-our-drought-douglas-firs-and-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":97106,"position":0},"title":"Thoughts on Our Drought, Douglas Firs, And Birds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Drought stressed Douglas Fir trees will produce what is called a \"stress crop\" of cones which is what I believe is happening to the firs in this location.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-breasted Nuthatch clinging to a fir cone, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-breasted-nuthatch-adult-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2998.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-breasted-nuthatch-adult-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2998.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-breasted-nuthatch-adult-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2998.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-breasted-nuthatch-adult-mountains-mia-mcpherson-2998.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":96636,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/24\/my-growing-concerns-over-this-years-crop-of-douglas-fir-seeds-because-of-our-drought\/","url_meta":{"origin":97106,"position":1},"title":"My Growing Concerns Over This Years Crop Of Douglas Fir Seeds Because Of Our Drought","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"My trip out into the sky island mountains of the West Desert last week caused my concerns about this years crop of Douglas Fir seeds to grow.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-breasted Nuthatch checking out a Douglas Fir cone in autumn, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/red-breasted-nuthatch-douglas-fir-cone-mia-mpherson-9635.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/red-breasted-nuthatch-douglas-fir-cone-mia-mpherson-9635.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/red-breasted-nuthatch-douglas-fir-cone-mia-mpherson-9635.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/red-breasted-nuthatch-douglas-fir-cone-mia-mpherson-9635.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":60228,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/09\/15\/douglas-firs-bird-food-grown-stored-and-served-in-handy-cones\/","url_meta":{"origin":97106,"position":2},"title":"Douglas Firs – Bird Food Grown, Stored And Served in Handy Cones","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The cones of Douglas Firs provide food for birds and mammals and the trees provide shelter and nesting areas too. I've been paying attention to the Douglas Firs we have here for several years because of the birds I know I can find eating the seeds of the trees from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Douglas Fir cone in morning light, Stansbury Mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/douglas-fir-cone-mia-mcpherson-7231.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/douglas-fir-cone-mia-mcpherson-7231.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/douglas-fir-cone-mia-mcpherson-7231.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/douglas-fir-cone-mia-mcpherson-7231.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":161892,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/10\/28\/red-breasted-nuthatch-memories\/","url_meta":{"origin":97106,"position":3},"title":"Red-breasted Nuthatch Memories","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The weather has kept me out of the field lately, so today I wanted to share a few Red-breasted Nuthatch memories since I\u2019ve been seeing and hearing them recently.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-breasted Nuthatch foraging in the Stansbury Mountains of Utah, West Desert, Tooele County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-breasted-nuthatch-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7928.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-breasted-nuthatch-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7928.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-breasted-nuthatch-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7928.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/red-breasted-nuthatch-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-7928.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61203,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/11\/04\/how-being-an-army-brat-netted-me-these-red-breasted-nuthatch-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":97106,"position":4},"title":"How Being An Army Brat Netted Me These Red-breasted Nuthatch Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I proudly credit being an Army Brat on discovering a great location to photograph these Red-breasted Nuthatches and other woodland birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-breasted Nuthatch high up in a fir, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-breasted-nuthatch-mia-mcpherson-6821.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-breasted-nuthatch-mia-mcpherson-6821.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-breasted-nuthatch-mia-mcpherson-6821.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-breasted-nuthatch-mia-mcpherson-6821.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":74422,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/06\/photographing-red-breasted-nuthatches-isnt-easy\/","url_meta":{"origin":97106,"position":5},"title":"Photographing Red-breasted Nuthatches Isn’t Easy","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Red-breasted Nuthatches aren't easy to photograph because they are tiny, they move quickly and their flight patterns are fairly unpredictable. Finding the right habitat, their habitat, can make it fun.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-breasted Nuthatch on a Douglas Fir bough, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-breasted-nuthatch-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-4059.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-breasted-nuthatch-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-4059.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-breasted-nuthatch-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-4059.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-breasted-nuthatch-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-4059.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}