The Beauty of November's Berries

Covered with berries and leaves earlier in the month, the Dogwoods in my yard are now bare of both. (Click images to enlarge.)All that remains are their upreaching limbs and tiny white buds, reminders of the crowd of birds, especially the robins, that covered their branches one morning and boldly announced their arrival.

But there are plenty of other berries still around, among them this native American Beautyberry (below) that I found at Ijams Nature Park. Expecting to find very little in the way of color when I stopped by, it took me by surprise. I even double checked to make sure the brilliant orange leaves were attached to the same limbs as the berries!

Who but Nature would pair these luscious colors together in such a grand display?!

October is most definitely a glorious month for leaves. But as November begins to fade, I think it steals the show, hands down, for its bountiful display of berries. Just ask the birds and squirrels who are busy harvesting them!

A Crowd of Robins and A Dogwood Tree

A cold front welcomed in our first day of November, so I set feeders out for the birds. Titmice, chickadees and cardinals gathered but it soon became apparent there were many more birds in the yard than usual.

When I walked over to the Dogwood to investigate, I found a crowd of American Robins in the tree eating the ripened dogwood berries.

Not a bit shy about their new surroundings, the robins, mixed with a few Cedar Waxwings, were hungrily picking berries in as many different ways as you and I might invent. Some hung upside down, others grabbed berries in a fly-by fashion, still others found a convenient spot and picked and swallowed them one by one. Sometimes as many as half-a-dozen gathered on a branch at a time. And all around, on nearby limbs, more birds waited their turn.

It was heavenly. They were so close, so busy, so accessible. As you might guess, I took a ton of photographs. And while I enjoyed the party, others came to dine--a male Red-bellied woodpecker (I will show you more about how he uses his tongue in a later post), two male Yellow-bellied sapsuckers, a Hermit thrush, an Eastern Phoebe, a White-throated sparrow, three Northern Flickers and a Northern Mockingbird.

Need I say what a fine party this was for me? (Last image, Northern Mockingbird).