Another Thrush that Feeds on Devil's Walkingstick

Eastern Bluebird Eating berries of Hercules Club. Photo by Ken Januski.

It's been years since I've posted to this blog, mainly due to lack of time. But well-intentioned naturalists and others continue to target this plant as an invasive, certainly here in Philadelphia, and birds, like the Eastern Bluebird above, continue to eat the ones that survive.

The only good thing you can say is that they seem to seed themselves easily enough that perhaps they'll be able to be victorious over those who attempt their eradication. But if you've ever tried to remove an 'undesirable' plant, as we once did with violas because there were just too many, one day you may get your wish -- and then regret it.

Save Some for the Late Guests

As I've birded various areas over the last few weeks I've noticed that most of the fruit on the Hercules Club is gone. So it was interesting to come across this plant/plants today along the Manayunk Canal in Philadelphia.

There is one brown and dead section in the  lower middle. To the right are more or less empty branches with all the fruit gone. And there at upper left are some that are just developing. I guess they will help to feed the migrants who didn't get here in time.

Along with my desire to see exactly what feeds on this plant I've also realized that  it makes  sense to notice when it blooms. This year in particular I've been surprised at how early it blooms - August if I remember correctly. That leaves little fruit for the October migrants. So far the main feeders I've seen have been American Robins and Black-throated Blue Warblers. But other thrushes also feed in it as well as woodpeckers, warblers and vireos. It will be interesting to see if there is anything left for the later migrants as they come along.

Veeries and Others

No time for sketches or photos today but  I did want to update this blog with some new visitors to Devil's Walkingstick. Yesterday at the Wissahickon in Philadelphia I saw two Veeries  eating the fruit of the bush. Nearby a Black-and-white Warbler was traversing its trunk looking for food. I shouldn't really count this since it is birds that eat its fruit that I'm trying to document. Still it is interesting that the warbler chose it.

And not surprisingly American Robins were constantly landing in it, bouncing around as though on a trampoline. It really  is an interesting sight to see how heavily they  land among the berries.

Still Watching

I realized it had been quite awhile since I'd done anything with this blog when I saw our local Hercules' Club starting to flower almost a month ago. I was shocked at the early date. But then I got busy and didn't have time to write anything  about it

Today at Carpenter's Woods though quite a few plants had fruit on them and one of them was covered in American Robins, Gray Catbirds and this one young Wood Thrush. Since I had my camera with me I decided to take a few photos and hope that at least one would be good enough to  use here.

So the feeding year for Hercules Clubs has started. Who knows how many birds will be found using it as a food source this year? I hope I'll be able to keep this blog more updated this year than I did last year.

Bonanza Day

It seemed like old times today with birds flitting in and out of the Hercules Club. Since all the herbicide spraying at Carpenter's Woods I've limited my fall birdwatching to the Wissahickon and Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, excluding John Heinz NWR which seems to lack Hercules Club.

I've seen robins most days I've been out but not much else other than a few Black-throated Blues. Today was also quiet for the first hour. Only a Hairy Woodpecker added any excitement to the day.

But after about an hour a flock of American Robins came through, flitting here and there, bathing in the stream, and often crashing into the Hercules Clubs to gorge themselves. As I watched through my binoculars I began to pick up other smaller birds.

One was the prototypical warbler of the Walkingstick: the Black-throated Blue Warbler. He's almost THE picture of fall. But I also saw other birds, some about the same size, and another a bit larger. Eventually I identified a couple of small ones as Northern Parulas, a warbler I've often seen on Hercules Club.

But the larger one was a surprise and I think the first I've seen feeding on the fruit: a Scarlet Tanager, in the yellow colors of post-breeding. There was at least one and possibly more.

One other bird also made an appearance nearby: a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, the first I've seen this fall. I saw it in near proximity of Hercules Club but never actually feeding.

I think I spent at least an hour in this one location trying to ID all the birds that flew into the HC. This is the way I remember fall feeding on Hercules Club. The only thing missing was some of the rest of the thrush family.

The sketch at top includes a small warbler that I eventually was able to ID as a Northern Parula, a Black-throated Blue Warbler, and the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, all sketched today.

First Black-throated Blues

The rain from various hurricanes and tropical storms finally stopped enough this weekend for me to get out and explore a bit. We were lucky, unlike many Pennsylvanians, in how little inconvenience or damage all that rain did to us personally.

The areas we visited over this weekend were really waterlogged and bird behavior was a bit odd. Almost no birds in the shady areas, including one particular area of Devil's Walkingsticks that is normally a good are for finding feeding warblers in fall. I did find my first male and female Black-throated Blue warbler on one plant at Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education on Saturday. But most of the birds were in the few sunlit areas, including one that had a lot of Hercules Club/Devil's Walkingstick, Grape and Crabapple.

All of these fruiting shrubs and trees attract migrants in fall. Here we also found a Gray Catbird feeding on the Hercules Club. Nearby I found my first Swainson's Thrush of the fall. Since I often see them eating Hercules Club at this time of year I expect that if I'd stuck around I would have found him eating as well. Other birds in vicinity were American Redstarts, Northern Parulas, and Red-Eyed Vireos. I didn't see any of them eating the fruit but I have seen Parula and Red-Eyed Vireos eating the fruit in the past. If I hadn't spent 3 hours in the shady areas of SCEE I might have spent more time in this rich sunlit area.

On Sunday my wife and I stopped by quickly. A female Black-throated Blue was eating the fruit and a male American Redstart and Black and White warbler were both nearby though we didn't see either eating.

As we left a group of American Robins were flopping around in some distant Hercules Club, ravenously eating the fruit, just the way that they do each fall.

By the way the large watercolor at top is based on photos and field sketches I made of Black-throated Blues eating Hercules Club fruit last fall.

Irresistible

I think I mentioned in my last post that this late summer/early fall is the first time that I've seen birds eating on the striking fruit of the spicebush, Lindera Benzoin. Today I again saw birds eating it, this time American Robins. The fruit, shown above, is about the size of a large pea. Not all that large but quite a bit larger than the very, small fruit of Devil's Walkingstick.

Today's tally of birds feeding on Devil's Walkingstick included many robins, a Veery, a Northern Flicker and a Carolina Chickadee. The latter was seen on the plant. I can't say for sure that he was eating.

Not to anthropomorphize too much but it seems to me that when robins feeds on Devil's Walkingstick they are gluttonous. They just land in a crash and then start eating. When they pluck a Spicebush fruit it seems more methodical and more as though they know that they're getting a rare and irresistible delicacy. As I said this is anthropomorphizing. I'm only putting into the words the way it strikes me.

I spent three hours on Forbidden Drive along the Wissahickon today. It was a pleasure to see so many walkingstick and see birds on them. I suspect that there might have been warblers too but most of the feeding was on the furthest shrubs not the closest so it was hard to ID smaller birds.

By contrast I spent yesterday at Carpenter's Woods, normally a favorite birding spot of mine, especially in spring and fall when migrants are abundant. But not yesterday. I saw more mosquitoes than birds during the first hour. Worse most all of the Hercules Club have been destroyed. You can read about it here. Much of the land is currently barren, a victim of cutting and herbicide done by the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation. This has been threatened for over a year now.

As the link says the intent is to re-establish native trees and shrubs and thus benefit native wildlife. We shall see. It is true that many of the old oaks that are so important to Carpenters Woods have fallen. If this helps new ones grow that's all to the good. But there has never been any need to include Hercules Club in the list of invasive species. Just how invasive is a shrub that provides food to so many species?

For now though I'll not continue to go to Carpenter's Woods to see which migrants are feeding on Devil's Walkingstick. There are too few left to be of any use. Let's hope Parks and Recreation doesn't also try to apply this misguided policy to the walkingstick along the Wissahickon. There are already ominous signs there of bird habitat destroyed in the interest of some type of 'improvement.'
You have to wonder just what the migrating Black-throated Blues, among others, will feed on.

There always are those beautiful spicebush. But it won't take long for all those fruit to disappear.

Thrushes Win

On my primary blog I almost never recycle images. I prefer to always show new ones. But that's a little harder with a secondary blog like this one.

So I'm recycling an image from last year, a watercolor of an American Robin in the fruits of a Hercules Club. And that's exactly what I saw today at the Wissahickon, over and over. I've been out of town for a week so I may have missed some other birds but as it stands the thrush family wins this years award for First to Eat the Fruits of Hercules Club.

A Veery also appeared in one today so that's a second member of the thrush family. There were also migrating warblers about, an American Redstart the only one I could clearly identify, but I never spotted on in the Hercules Club. I also saw a number of Red-eyed Vireos.

I didn't see them in the Hercules Club but I believe it was one of them that plucked a fat fruit from a Spicebush. There was so much going on that I can't remember for sure what bird it was that I saw gobble down the Spicebush fruit.

It's always satisfying to see something happen in nature that you've read about. Such was the case with the spicebush. I and my wife have one in our yard. We love their appearance and the smell of their crushed leaves and fruit. We've read that birds eat their fruit. Since our tree doesn't have a second one nearby to pollinate it we rarely get fruit and I don't think I've ever seen a ripe fruit. We do see ripe fruit often at the Wissahickon and elsewhere though. And yet we've never seen a bird feed on it. So that was something exciting to see. There aren't many fruits on the bush, unlike the hundreds if not thousands on Hercules Club. You have to wonder if birds find it a special prize when they grab one.

The Hercules Clubs are fruiting pretty nicely now. I hope to be able to track carefully the birds that feed on it this fall.

How Time Flies

Yes I know it's been a very long time since I've posted anything here. I had hoped to do a summation of all the birds that I found feeding on Devil's Walkingstick last year but I just never got around to it.

Hopefully I'll do better this year. As I've birded in Philadelphia recently I've kept my eyes on Hercules Club. The flowers are budded up. Soon they'll flower, then the purplish berries, then the feeding birds.

While I was out today I did this quick sketch of one. The white flowers are in upper left. Over time the all white flower clusters will turn pinkish and purple. When they do you know that all is here.

How Many Different Species Feeding on One Plant

does it take before the plant is no longer considered an invasive that must be removed from a natural area? I guess the 20 I've tabulated so far is not enough for the Friends of the Wissahickon, an organization to which I belonged for years, and which is supposedly dedicated to preserving it. Instead they proceed with their plans to eradicate Devil's Walkingstick at Carpenter's Woods and elsewhere in the Wissahickon. Birders, no matter how knowledgeable, have not been able to talk any sense into them.

My count of 20 is very conservative, based mainly on my occasional observations over the last few months. If I were to add in birds I've seen in previous years along with anecdotal evidence from other birders the total I'm sure would easily come to 50. If 50 different species feed on one plant should it really be eradicated? Does it really help the environment to remove such a well-used plant? I think you know my answer.

Seeing more species feeding today helped to fuel this tirade of mine. Again a Black-throated Blue, now pictured in header, fed for at least 15 minutes. He was joined on same group of plants by a Yellow-rumped Warbler(seen above), a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet and a Carolina Chickadee.

I'm not really sure what to make of the Friends of the Wissahickon. They've supported mountain bikes there though anyone who uses the area can see the horrible destruction they create. They remove plants that are obviously used by birds and blithely call them invasive. And yet they do accomplish some good. But you have to wonder? Is it now being run by bureaucrats too busy looking for grants to remember their real mission?

October Warblers

It seems like forever since I've posted anything here and it probably has been. Vacation, strong storms, art work have all kept me out of the field. Or when I was out it was in areas without Devil's Walkingstick.

But today we did a brief hike through one corner of the Ravine Loop Trail at Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. For the first 15-20 minutes we saw nothing. But as we got near the Walkingstick, first one, then two, then three Black-throated Blue warblers appeared in it. A Gray Catbird joined them, followed by at least one Tennessee Warbler. We also saw a Blue-Headed Vireo and Northern Parula warlber in adjacent trees. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that they were also feeding on it.

Coincidentally this is the best look we've ever had at a Tennessee Warbler in Philadelphia.

As we walked into SCEE not only did we see no birds but 95% of the berries on the Devil's Walkingstick were gone. Things did not bode well. But it's been my experience that you can find birds on the Walkingstick through October in Philadelphia. I hope I'll have time this year to confirm this.

Fruit/Hover-gleaning Vireos

Unfortunately being on vacation last week I missed a big week in birds feeding on Devil's Walkingstick. When I birded Carpenter's Woods today about 90% of the fruit was gone. I'd guess it was more like 60-75% before I left.

Still that didn't stop the feeders. I hadn't yet seen the Red-eyed Vireos that John mentioned. But I saw at least one today, doing what I'd call hover-gleaning. It looks like there is also a type of feeding called fruit/hover-gleaning and that more accurately describes what I saw. The vireo flew up to the fruit, hovered, and quickly grabbed a fruit. I wish I'd seen this well enough or gotten a photo since it would have made for a nice sketch. But no such luck.

Also feeding today was one male Black-throated Blue warbler and at least five American Robins, one of which is pictured at top.

Also in West Virginia

We were in West Virginia last week so I have nothing to add personally about birds feeding on Devil's Walkingstick. We did have a wonderful cabin in the mountains there but we saw 0 birds outside of the cabin, a rude surprise to say the least. There was a Devil's Walkingstick about 100 yards from our cabin but we saw no birds on it. However that means little given that we only say 1 bird within 100 yards of the cabin, a House Wren.

Robin, one of  the neighbors who regularly birds Carpenter's Woods, did report a Wilson's Warbler feeding on DW there while we were gone. One more feeding warbler for the list and an unusual one at that!

And Some Red-eyed Vireos

I was at Carpentter's Woods for three hours this morning, looking for a predicted fallout that didn't really  seem to happen. There were a few more warblers than usual, especially a Blackburnian, but no fallout. John who birds the woods almost every day and who knows I'm keeping track of Walkingstick feeders mentioned that he found a number of Red-eyed Vireos feeding today.

I also found one Black-throated  Blue and one Veery. So the list is adding up. John mentioned that  he guessed he'd seen all the thrushes feeding and I'd guess the same. The only local thrush  I can't positively remember are Hermit and Gray-cheeked. But Gray-cheeked are fairly rare here. Hermit seems much more likely, unless it doesn't arrive until after all the berries are gone. Something to pay attention to this fall.

And Some Warblers..............

Well I wish I had a photo of a Black-throated Blue Warbler, or even better a Worm-eating, sitting in the middle of these berries but I don't. As I've mentioned in my other blog warblers don't sit still for long. Photos are difficult and sketches almost impossible.

In any case a 3 hour walk at the Wissahickon yesterday found many Devil's Walkingsticks, all in varying degrees of fruiting. Some were just developing, some ripe as could be, some past their prime and others seemingly dead, the entire fruit head falling completely down. If I have time I may try to more properly document their lifecyle as I view it this year.

Robins were the most plentiful visitor but I also saw my first male Black-throated Blue warbler feeding on them. I believe I also saw a Worm-eating warbler. I only saw this bird for one brief second, then it was gone. I'm pretty sure of my ID but can't be positive. And I can't say for sure he was eating the berries. So this one goes down as a maybe, especially as it's the first Worm-eating I've ever seen in Philadelphia.

Red-bellied Woodpecker Also a Walkingstick Feeder

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.

How Could I Forget Catbirds?

I spent a few hours at Carpenter's Woods in Philadelphia this morning, primarly looking for migrating wood warblers, but actually happy with anything I found. And of course what I found most of were catbirds. In this part of the country they may be the most seen and heard bird in the woods. I know that the Red-eyed Vireo was once reported to have that honor but today I think the Catbird might win.

In any case the catbird is one more species that feeds on Devil's Walkingstick. Catbirds and robins both crash landed in the fruits this morning. Since my primary purpose in being outside is to see and draw birds it's enough of a distraction to bring a camera along. A video camera is just not up for consideration. Nonetheless it would be interesting to put a video camera on the fruit of Devil's Walkingstick and see what happens.

Most entries seem like crash landings. This might be partially due to the fact that the fruits, though a huge spray, are actually tiny in themselves. And at this time of the year most of the feeders are big: thrushes, catbirds, woodpeckers. Because they seem to crashland there's a lot of commotion when one of these bigger birds lands and then they get buried in the spray of berries. I have to assume that all of them are eating the fruit and that there is no chance that anything else, like insect-eating, is going on. But I can't positively say that.

Another new bird today was the Northern Cardinal. A Carolina Wren was in the near vicinity but I never actually saw him on the Walkingstick.

One topic for another day: Aralia racemosa. We have some growing in our front yard, a free plant from Morris Arboretum for members. It has a spray of berries, like Aralia Spinosa, but I've yet to see any birds on it. And I don't know it's relationship to Devil's Walkingstick, or Aralia spinosa. As I said, topics for another day.

Do Birds Need Devil's Walkingstick?

Every year about this time I start seeing birds feeding on the American native shrub called 'Aralia Spinosa', 'Devils Walkingstick', or 'Hercules Club' among others. And yet at the same time I keep hearing about it being invasive. So recently I posted an entry about it on my blog Arts, Birds, Nature.

After I'd done so I thought it would be nice to keep track of how many birds are seen feeding on it this fall. But that really wasn't going to work on my blog, which is not so specific. However it took less than 15 minutes to create a new blog on blogger.

So here's my idea. If you stumble upon this blog and you see birds feeding on Devil's Walkingstick berries this fall please add a comment to the blog stating the birds you saw and your location.

It could very well be that this will be the only post on this blog, or perhaps that I'll be the only poster. But then again you never know. I've run into many people who agree with me when I talk about how many birds feed on it. Perhaps they'll find their way here.

These are the birds I've seen so far this late summer/early fall:
American Robin
Veery
Wood Thrush
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker