Philadelphia Vireo and other migrants in Lambton Woods

[Rob'in'To]

Hit the trails of Lambton Woods the other morning.  Nice to finally see some migrants...

A pair of Philadelphia Vireos were feeding on some kind of white berries not much more than 10 ft in front of me.  They barely took notice to my presence.  Unfortunately I was facing the sun.  But it was the best look I have ever gotten at this species.  





Common Yellowthroat with breakfast.



Chestnut Sided Warbler



Magnolia Warbler



Black-throated Greens and Nashville Warblers were also in the mix.

[MEGHAN]

Rob, these are great!! What a nice assortment.
I'm lovin' the yellowthroat.

Meghan

[Dr. John]

I'm no expert on plants but the berries and plant look like some type of dogwood.

[Rob'in'To]

I think you are correct.  I believe I tried to grow some of this in the backyard...  more berry producing plants, more birds...  but it didn't work out.

Thanks Meghan.  It definitely was a nice of assortment of something different for a change.  

[Ron Luft]

Correct on the honeysuckle. Regarding growing - berries- birds...Not all birds will eat all kinds of berries. Many of our native birds tend to stay away from berries of invasive bush berries. Some have learned that buckthorns ( alien species) are edible , in their opinion anyway, but others refuse to try. Kinda like some people refusing to try international delicasies. If you grow berries, grow natives and you might have better success. Some berries of course may be either too bitter or poisonous to some or all birds. Time of year can also play a role. Early spring is a time of little food of the veggie/berry variety being available so some birds will eat almost anything. Cedar waxwings have been known to eat last falls berries and even though they are fermented they eat them anyway and get drunk doing it. My brother and I saw that years ago and it was comical. He found perching difficult as the branch swayed about even though it wasn't windy and he peered at us from a height just over our head with a quizzical gaze when any 'sober' bird would give us a much wider berth. Though just out of reach he still didn't fly off when I raised my finger to see if he would perch. He didn't but he also didn't see it as a threat.

[Rob'in'To]

Haha!  That's a great story Ron.  And thanks for the berry tips.

We've got a couple kinds of raspberries, huckleberry, cardinal candy (viburnam), blue muffin viburnam and a holly bush.  Seen birds on all of them at one point or another.  We have some honeysuckle and something eats that too, not sure who since it gets lost in some of the other growth.