Category: True Bugs

Watching The Blueberry Crop

Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus)

Eastern Towhees are here in the mountains of central Virginia year round. Their diet is primarily insects, seeds and berries and during the summer they tend, of course, to eat more insects. True bugs, beetles, ants, caterpillars, moths, millipedes, spiders and snails are all on the menu. But there’s something special to me, which I share with them. Those blueberries. This fellow is watching over them. Watching how they are growing. Watching and waiting for them to ripen. Just like I am. I wholeheartedly enjoy sharing the blueberries with the birds. For me, the berries mean pies, pancakes, muffins. For them it means breakfast, lunch and dinner. Glad to share.

Winter Arrival of the Hermit Thrush

Seems every day I’m seeing another of my winter birds. This one, my treasured Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus). A medium sized bird with a magical, flutelike song which it doesn’t bring along on its winter visit. It saves those lovely notes for summer, choosing to blend in and not make too much of a noticeable presence while in the black and white landscape of winter.

Out of necessity it also changes its diet, going from being an active hunter of yummy crawly things such as beetles, ants, caterpillars, true bugs, grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, and earthworms to what winter offers up to birds of winter, berries.

You can see in these pictures that the Hermit Thrush enjoys Smooth Sumac berries to dine on. Other berries they enjoy include Elderberries, Pokeberries, Serviceberries, Grapes, and Mistletoe berries. These are plants that I have in my yard or would certainly consider adding, just to invite more winter birds to come visit for the winter.