This is bird note.

Songbirds like this is bird note.

Songbirds like this Baltimore Orioles thrive on a steady diet of scrumptious caterpillars that are often found on trees lining city sidewalks.

But few of these larval moths and butterflies live their whole lives on the tree itself, says

entomologist Douglas Talamy, the co-founder of Homegrown National Park. Their

next life stage is in the leaves and soil under the tree.

Well, if you look under most trees, there's no leaf litter.

And we mow and compact the soil to the point where it's rock hard, so they can't get

underground.

So the way we treat the landscape under the treat creates an ecological trap.

That's a problem for birds who need caterpillars to raise their young.

Talme says one solution is to grow low-lying native plants, like ferns or may apples, around the base of trees.

Or you can rake autumn leaves into piles around the trunk.

We call it a creating a soft landing site for the caterpillars in that tree, they drop down,

they've got a tunnel under the ground to pupate, so you have a continuation of the moth

population that should be there.

An apartment dwellers can pitch in by adopting a tree in their building's yard

and creating a soft landing for caterpillars.

And if everybody adopted a single tree in that yard, then you've got a much healthier

landscape and the individual gets to contribute a little bit.

To learn more about homegrown national park and how to take part in their

simple grassroots solution to the biodiversity crisis,

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