Yesterday, catbirds were enjoying wild black cherry fruit that is ripening along our driveway—on volunteer trees. In other years, I’ve observed cardinals eating the cherries, too. The cherries are in various stages of maturity and are shiny and bright. There’s also a volunteer crab apple that has some fruit that looks good. There are still some berries on our highbush cranberry bush, but the last time I noticed they were not ripe.
Jane Clark Clive, Polk County From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rick Hollis Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2012 8:48 PM To: IA-BIRD Subject: [ia-bird] Poor Natural Fruit Crop It looks like the natural food crop is going to be poor heading into fall and winter. Not only are many of the dogwoods very heat stressed -- some look as bad as much of the corn. And the dog wood fruit. I looked at two umbels and found only 17 good berries, 1 rotten berry [looks like a tomato with blossom end rot], and 31 fruitless stems. I suspect much of the other wild fruits and seeds will be the same. Rick Hollis North Liberty IA --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/PayDues.aspx. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
