My, what juicy berries you had...

January 10, 2013
February 15, 2011

Until yesterday morning, when a large flock of robins swooped in for breakfast, our Winter King Hawthornes were laden with gorgeous red berries. Now the trees are completely bare. The birds even cleaned up berries that had fallen on the ground. Recently, I read that robins eat berries in the winter and earthworms and bugs during the warmer months. They turn their beaks up at the seeds in our bird feeder. Scouts had been stopping by over the last several weeks to do taste tests so we knew what was coming, it was only a matter of when.

Looking back through past posts I realized that the Hawthornes didn't have many berries in 2012, as there was nothing notable to share about this yearly communal meal. It was two years ago, in February 2011, that the same feeding frenzy occurred.

Perhaps they will dine in your yard next.

Comments

[Debbie]

Nicki,
Very interesting. We have watched the same thing happen on our trees at the farm.
Debbie

[Mary]

Yes, they gorged on ALL the holly berries at our house. At Christmas time.
It makes me suspicious of shrubs whose berries go untouched! Like the ilex verticillata by St. Peter's. Barely a berry has been devoured, holy ground?