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.

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.

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.

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