natureswondersbyclyde

     This April, I saw a chipping sparrow in a planted row of arborvitae trees in a neighbor's yard in New Holland, Pennsylvania.  Probably that chipper, and its mate, will nest in one of those evergreen trees, as I have seen chippies regularly do in the past.        Other kinds of small birds, including house finches, American goldfinches, northern cardinals, mourning doves, northern mockingbirds, American robins and small groups of purple grackles also raise young in sheltering arborvitae because of the conifers' dense layering of small, flat needles that protect those birds from weather and predators, including sharp-shinned hawks, crows and house cats.        All those attractive, interesting bird species build open cradles of twigs and dried grass and place those nurseries on forks of limbs.  And those birds add more life to suburban lawns during spring and summer.       Arborvitae, or no...