Don Torino's latest column is on the beauty of birches. Here's the beginning:

Robert Frost wrote in his poem “Birches” that “one could do worse than be a swinger of birches.”

As much value as birch trees might be to your exercise regime, they are one of the most beneficial trees you can plant to help wildlife.

Seeds produced by the “catkins,” or seed clusters, attract many bird species such as our state bird, the American Goldfinch.

In fact, if you were to take a catkin and tap it in the palm of your hand, you would see many tiny seeds very similar to the commercially available thistle or nyger seed used for finch feeders.

Besides our goldfinch, irruption birds such as Redpolls, Purple Finch and Pine Siskins relish the tiny seeds that are important to their survival.

The link is here.