Jerene and I spent the late morning at Carpenter's Woods in Philadelphia and ran into both warblers and more people who see everyday how Hercules Club is used by both birds and insects. Yet this use seems to fall on deaf ears with those who think it is some sort of incredibly noxious invasive. I've yet to see any evidence of that. And when you see truly noxious weeds like Japanese Knotweed you have to ask yourself it if isn't throughly misguided to be trying to eradicate Hercules Club.
Above you see a quick watercolor based on a photo I took today of another robin feeding. I'm going to try to leave my artwork off of this blog since it's really about the birds that feed on Devil's Walkingstick. But occasionally I'll slip one in.
Today's new bird was another woodpecker: the Red-bellied Woodpecker. The woodpecker feeders are adding up along with the thrushes. Today we found a Wood Thrush feeding along with numerous robins.
Black-throated Blues arrived recently in Carpenter's Woods and at Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. Though they've been in the very near vicinity I haven't yet found them on the fruit itself. I'm sure I will soon.
I had thought of setting up an online database for entering information on birds feeding on Devil's Walkingstick. But it's turned out to be easier, at least so far, to set up a publishable Google Docs spreadsheet instead. A link to that is at top. I'll add any sightings left here as comments to it. If there turns out to be large interest(very unlikely) I'll allow some others to edit the spreadsheet.
I'm also thinking of asking that this blog be added to the Nature Blog Network. That should bring more attention to both it and to Hercules Club. So if you're reading this and would like to keep track of what birds feed on this great shrub please let me know by adding your comments here. The more data I have the more impetus I have to manage the spreadsheet and put the blog on NBN.
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