As I was taking a walk at the end of a modest November snowstorm, I came upon a beautiful woodpecker and a group of squirrels. They were in different parks, and both had in common the fact that used decaying trees to sustain their precious life.
This woodpecker was feeding on the insects living in the several dead trees in a park. Thankfully he did not seem too much bothered by being my photo model, although he did seem to disaprove of my impoliteness when I got a bit too close.
A few minutes later, I saw this very cute squirrel which was observing me through the window of his decaying-tree nest (where there seemed to be tunnels he could pass trough), while one of his friends was eating on top of a nearby tree, and two others were chasing each other (maybe playing tag?).
Seeing them and the bird under the magical atmosphere of snowfall brought a smile to my face. Thanks to the dead trees, they had a source of food and an habitat to help them survive the very harsh conditions of winter in an urban environment.
The city I live in took the intelligent initiative not to remove dead trees in parks like they used to do for "esthetical reasons". I would guess they used to do this because humans are afraid of everything reminescent of decay and entropy, but it's important to realise that life and order can not exist without death and chaos. Another good thing the city did, is to stop the removal of dead leaves on park grounds in autumn, because in winter these leaves gives back nutrients to the soil while decomposing, and serves as habitat for insects, which are a rare and important source of foods for birds and small mammals in winter.
Interfering as less as possible with nature, letting dead plants decompose naturally, is thus an excellent, very easy, and free way to preserve biodiversity and soil quality.
For more information on this subject, you may read this article:
Thank you for reading.
-aoi