40 Best Nuts

The list below ranks in order the top 40 favorite wildlife preferred nuts.

The ranking is determined using two criteria to describe the role of the plant food in animals’ diets:

1) the number of species that utilizes the food,

2) how significant the food is within an individual species overall diet

So while a food may not be popular across a large number of species, it still could be strongly preferred by a few species. By coordinating with a rehabber’s specific needs, a forager can decide which plants to best target for collection.

Be sure to check any item listed below  in the database to see if there are any toxicological warnings associated with that plant or part of the plant.

	Common Name	Botanical Name
1	oak, generally	Quercus spp.
2	beech, American	Fagus grandifolia
3	oak, northern red	Quercus rubra
4	oak, chinkapin	Quercus muehlenbergii
5	hickory, generally	Carya spp.
6	hickory, pignut	Carya glabra
7	walnut, generally	Juglans spp.
8	hickory, shagbark	Carya ovata
9	walnut, black	Juglans nigra
10	hazelnut	Corylus spp.
11	oak, white	Quercus alba
12	hickory, mockernut	Carya alba
13	oak, southern red	Quercus falcata
14	butternut	Juglans cinerea
15	hophornbeam, eastern	Ostrya virginiana
16	oak, bear	Quercus ilicifolia
17	oak, black	Quercus velutina
18	oak, willow	Quecus phellos
19	chestnut, generally	Castanea spp.
20	hickory, shagbark	Carya ovata
21	chinquapin, Allegheny	Castanea pumila
22	oak, chestnut	Quercus prinus
23	oak, pin	Quercus palustris
24	oak, southern live	Quercus virginiana
25	peanut	Arachis hypogaea
26	oak, swamp chestnut	Quercus  michauxii
27	oak, scarlet	Quercus coccinea
28	oak, black	Quercus nigra
29	oak, swamp white	Quercus bicolor
30	oak, turkey	Quercus laevis
31	oak, Shumard’s	Quercus shumardii
32	pecan	Carya illinoinensis
33	oak, overcup	Quercus lyrata
34	hickory, mockernut	Carya tomentosa
35	oak, bluejack	Quercus incana
36	oak,post	Quercus stellata
37	oak, pin	Quercus palustris
38	chestnut, American	Castanea dentata
39	hazelnut, American	Corylus americana
40	hazelnut, beaked	Corylus cornuta

What Criteria is Used for the Ranking the Lists?

The main resources used to build this website usually rated foods in three levels of preference: high, middle and low. But, a plant may be high preference in Michigan but lower preference in Virginia.  So the preference factor has some built in limitations. Still, it is factor #1 in the algorithm.

The second factor considered was how many species of animals ate the part of the plant in consideration. A seed that 29 species of animals eats would outrank a seed that only 5 species eats.

From a foragers perspective, it would be ideal to collect the most  highly preferable foods that feed the widest range of rehabilitation animals, right? Well maybe not.

Consider if a rehabilitator only works with foxes. To research which foods would be most beneficial in the “fox only” scenario, the only consideration that she would care about is the most preferred food for foxes, not how many other species ate it.

So the ranking lists are the most general broad interpretation of the data. You will want to generate your own lists from the search feature to find out just what you want to target for collection.

 

References Used with Permission

The Fire Effects Information System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer).

Fire Effects Information System (2017) Plant species ecology literature reviews. Retrieved various dates from https://www.feis-crs.org/feis/

Martin, A.C., Zim, H.S., Nelson, A.L. (1951). American Wildlife and Plants: A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits. New York: Dover Publications.

Scott, M. (2013). Songbird Diet Index. National  Wildlife  Rehabilitators  Association, St. Cloud, MN.