Northern Red Oak

Oaks are known to provide a number of wildlife benefits. Oaks produce mast (acorns) that provides critical nutrients to the animals that depend on them, and to a host of those that do not depend on them directly. Oaks also provide nesting habitat to birds, mammals, and invertebrates. They enrich and build soil quality. Their leaves also support an immense diversity of caterpillars and other insect larvae that almost all birds in the region depend on to feed to their young. Surely, oaks are a keystone in our local environments, and the Northern Red Oak is one of the more common species found in our area.

(Image above courtesy of By Katja Schulz from Washington, D. C., USA - Northern Red Oak, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81220872)