43. Douglas-fir

Coastal Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii) are the largest trees that occur on Leaning Oaks. They provide a roosting place for Great-horned Owls, Red-tailed Hawks, American Robins and many others. The distinctive cones are food for finches and many arthropods and all manner of birds glean the needles for insects. The gnarley bark helps protect the tree in the fire driven ecosystem that it lives in. 
Where trees have encroached on the Garry Oak meadow or our house we have had them taken down part way so that a snag remained. The use these snags have received has been fabulous. Violet-green Swallows, Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches nest in cavities, big shelf fungi grow on the sides and Pileated Woodpeckers search for insects with great vigour. 

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