<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Helvetica;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Verdana;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Bookman Old Style";
panose-1:2 5 6 4 5 5 5 2 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.gmailsignatureprefix
{mso-style-name:gmail_signature_prefix;}
span.EmailStyle20
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Courier New";
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Courier New"'>Yes, I was going to mention this phenomenon. When I lived in Oregon, I saw my first-ever Tricolored Blackbirds nesting in a large blackberry patch in Klamath County, OR, a thrill for me! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Courier New"'>p.s. Gary, am thankful that those blackberries saved you and that you are still with us!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Courier New"'>Lori Markoff<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> Tweeters <tweeters-bounces@mailman11.u.washington.edu> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Steve Hampton via Tweeters<br><b>Sent:</b> Friday, August 15, 2025 11:59 AM<br><b>To:</b> TWEETERS tweeters <tweeters@u.washington.edu><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Tweeters] Himalayan Blackberries<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;color:#073763'>Here's one of those strange examples: In California, Himalayan blackberries are one of the few places where seriously-declining Tricolored Blackbirds can nest successfully, as more native places (marshes) are now a patchwork easily infiltrated by predators such as night-herons and raccoons. I recall a rookery of 2,000 night-herons in a eucalyptus grove near a smallish cattail marsh. The herons wiped out 5,000 TRBL nests in a few nights. But in the blackberries, the Trikes are successful. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;color:#073763'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;color:#073763'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>On Fri, Aug 15, 2025 at 9:05 AM HAL MICHAEL via Tweeters <<a href="mailto:tweeters@u.washington.edu">tweeters@u.washington.edu</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'>Gary brings up a good point about some of our decisions about habitat, its restoration, and modifications. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'>Early in my career I read an article by a WDG Wildlife Biologist. He described a situation (probably made up) of a corner of his yard overrun with blackberries. A song Sparrow nested there. In honor of his European roots, he annually "collected" a bird or two to eat. Every year the sparrows nested and produced young. Then, he decided to clean up the yard, install a gazebo and fire pit, and make the yard neater. No more sparrow nesting, no more sparrow eating. He had converted a piece of land from supporting Song Sparrow to essentially reducing the world population by a pair and their young. Like putting up those barriers instead of blackberry. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'>The second was in conversations with an entomologist regarding proposals to replace (exotic) stands of eucalyptus in coastal CA with native shrubs and such. This would remove the trees in which Monarchs wintered and not replace them (Monarchs have site fidelity) for decades at the minimum. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'>There are times when exotic species may be providing ecological services that the native plants don't/didn't. Not saying that we should keep all the exotics but perhaps a deeper dive into the services they provide and how the loss of them will be mitigated. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'>Hal Michael<br>Board of Directors, <a href="http://ecowb.org/" target="_blank">Ecologists Without Borders</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'>Olympia WA<br>360-459-4005<br>360-791-7702 (C)<br><a href="mailto:ucd880@comcast.net" target="_blank">ucd880@comcast.net</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div><blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><div><p class=MsoNormal>On 08/15/2025 5:48 AM PDT Gary Bletsch via Tweeters <<a href="mailto:tweeters@u.washington.edu" target="_blank">tweeters@u.washington.edu</a>> wrote: <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'>Dear Tweeters, <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'>Although I favor native plants in a passive sort of way, I will never bad-mouth the Himalayan Blackberry--if that is still the right name. I owe my life to Himalayan Blackberries. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'>In December of 1990, my 1971 Dodge Dart started sliding and spinning, doing 360's all over Interstate 5 in Tukwila. I'd hit black ice. After bouncing off a little subcompact, the car went careening toward a semi, which I somehow missed. I distinctly remember saying goodbye to what had seemed like a pretty darned good life up to that point. A moment later, I was sitting in the driver's seat, utterly unharmed. The bulb of a huge freeway light pole was slowly swinging back and forth right, a cubit from my window. I had clipped the pole, which landed on my roof, denting it only slightly. The front of the car had plunged into a huge patch of blackberries, which absorbed the impact of a 3000-pound Mopar going 60 mph. The frame was not bent; I just needed a new radiator and a few dents hammered out. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'>Today there is a line of concrete barriers where that blackberry patch used to be. If I had hit that, I would almost certainly have died, or at least suffered serious injury. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'>At my old place in the Skagit Valley, we had huge, long thickets of blackberries. The goats and I had our work cut out for us, keeping it under control. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'>White-crowned Sparrows and several other species nested in there. I don't remember exactly what birds ate the fruits, but many did, certainly including Starlings, Towhees, and Robins. In winter, I'd have all sorts of interesting birds sheltering in those thickets, including White-throated Sparrows almost every winter. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'>Besides being my goats' absolute favorite food, the blackberries provided an enormous bounty of fruit, and blackberry pie was a major feature of our late-summer diet every year. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'>Yours truly, <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'>Gary Bletsch <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'>PS I did a birding trip in the foothills of the Himalayas a few years ago, visiting India and Bhutan. While I saw <em><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'>Cannabis sativa </span></em>growing wild all over the place, I never saw a blackberry. Maybe "Armenian Blackberry" would be a better name. The <em><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'>Wikipedia </span></em>article states that the plant is native to Armenia and northern Iran. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal>_______________________________________________ <br>Tweeters mailing list <br><a href="mailto:Tweeters@u.washington.edu" target="_blank">Tweeters@u.washington.edu</a> <br><a href="http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters" target="_blank">http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters</a> <o:p></o:p></p></blockquote></div><p class=MsoNormal>_______________________________________________<br>Tweeters mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Tweeters@u.washington.edu" target="_blank">Tweeters@u.washington.edu</a><br><a href="http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters" target="_blank">http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters</a><o:p></o:p></p></blockquote></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><br clear=all><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmailsignatureprefix>-- </span><o:p></o:p></p><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;color:#073763'>Steve Hampton</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Port Townsend, WA (<span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>qatáy</span>)<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div></div></body></html>