With the temperature hovering near freezing this week, I watched a small flock of robins descend on a pyracantha bush and gobble up most of its red berries. The shrub had been loaded with the ripe berries since October, and I wondered why the birds only now were going after the fruit.
A reason, an ornithologist friend told me, probably was that the fruits of more desirable plants were still available a month or so ago, and the birds passed on the less-preferred pyracantha berries. Now, during these coldest days of winter, many of the more desirable fruits and berries are scarce. The birds no longer can afford to be picky. To get nourishment to survive the winter, they will have to partake of what’s available.
It might be like me wanting a juicy steak to satisfy my hunger but having to settle instead for a hot dog because it’s the only food around.
The robin is one of several species in Georgia that depend heavily on fruits (berries, grapes and the like) to survive harsh winters. Other species include cedar waxwings, Eastern bluebirds, yellow-rumped warblers, starlings and mockingbirds. During the coldest days of the year, when many food sources are exhausted, late-winter berries can truly be a lifesaver for these birds. Backyard feeders alone won't meet all their nourishment needs.
For the birds, what's mostly available now -- and probably through the rest of winter -- are the fruits that hung ripe on bushes and vines for weeks or months with little apparent interest. In addition to the pyracantha berries, the fruits include offerings from American holly, Eastern red cedar, nandina, partridgeberry, possumhaw, swamp dogwood and wax myrtle.
Altogether, some 70 bird species in the state consume fruits during at least some part of the year, according to "The Ecology of Fruit-Eating Birds in Georgia." The booklet is loaded with details about the fruit preferences of the birds. Published last year by the Georgia Ornithological Society, it was written by two Georgia bird experts -- James Ferrari, a biology professor at Wesleyan College in Macon, and Jerry Payne, a retired U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist in Musella.
If you want to make your yard more attractive to birds, planting berry-producing trees and shrubs is a good way to start, the authors say. The top five native species they recommend for planting are red mulberry, flowering dogwood, serviceberry, black cherry and blackgum.
Winter, by the way, is prime time for planting trees and shrubs.
In the sky: The moon will be full on Wednesday, said David Dundee, an astronomer with the Tellus Science Museum. January's full moon is known as the "Wolf Moon" by some Native Americans because of the hungry wolves that howled outside villages during cold winter nights. Mercury rises out of the east just before dawn. Venus rises out of the east about three hours before dawn. Jupiter is high in the southwest at sunset and sets about four hours later. Saturn rises out of the east about four hours before sunrise. Mars is not visible this month.
About the Author
Featured
