Re: Dogwoods and Holly
Dendroica@aol.com
Thu, 26 Nov 1998 20:06:36 EST
Todd, Bill & all--
It has been my observation too that birds eat dogwood berries in the fall,
long before a frost or hard freeze. A few years ago, a bumper crop drew
flocks of waxwings and robins to my yard over a three to four day period of
time, until every berry had been consumed. Last year, the feast all belonged
to a huge flock of grackles. This fall, as Todd observed in his yard, the
berry crop was poor. Squirrels were nibbling away at them in late summer and
the balance were divided equally between robins and grackles.
If plants are stressed, it usually follows that they will bud profusely to
bear a lot of fruit and seeds for survival in the following year. But a check
of my trees today didn't reassure me . I also noticed that some berries had
even dried up on the branches. But this summer's drought may be only
partially to blame. Our prolonged wet spring/early summer provided ideal
conditions for dogwoods to be attacked by anthracnose, which botanists claim
will eventually wipe out all of our eastern native dogwoods.
I also have a lot of American hollies on my property, but they don't seem to
bear too profusely ( maybe they're all male, or all female, maybe too much
shade, maybe lack of pollinating insects, I don't know). But there's enough
there to lure small flocks of bluebirds and waxwings to the yard off and on
during the winter months. Although I favor native plant species, I have added
seven Nellie Steven hollies this year which I hope will produce an abundance
of berries to augment the food supply for wintering birds.
Another fall food source no one has mentioned thus far, is the poison ivy
berry. I have poison ivy vines entering the canopies of old Virginia pines
which eventually means death for the pines, but an ecologist has advised me
that the poison ivy is the more beneficial to wildlife. So far, I haven't
interferred.
Finally, the same ecologist leading a field trip a year ago fall, pointed out
that the berries of the spice bush are among the least nutritional and the
last to be consumed.
Ralph Wall
Great Falls, Va.