Robin in Downy Serviceberry feasting on berries
Regarding the abundance of fruit this year…yes! It’s as if everything is masting (producing a huge amount of fruit/seed)!! Dale & I have expounded about the abundance of flowers since the early spring, and right on through until now: first the Canada Plum, then the serviceberries, and even the maples, ash and aspen. Then the apples, and trees that I didn’t know were pears, then hawthorns and honeysuckle (the Tartarians lasted a long time) and lilacs; just when I thought the trees were finished, the Black Locust showed themselves in places I thought were elms, and recently I saw Catalpa blooming in Fenelon Falls. The robins and Cedar Waxwings are stuffing themselves on fruit from my mulberry tree, and I know we’ll be seeing Wild Turkeys come down our driveway this fall to eat the hops from the Hop-Hornbeams that are loaded on both sides of our driveway. WOW! I think that it has something to do with the amount of rain we had this spring. Maybe also a comeback from last year’s drought where the trees & shrubs all had a tough time and maybe think they must mast?
Observer: Anne Barbour, Coboconk
Little Leaf Linden in flower
Note: While walking today, I noticed that the Little-leaf
Linden (a common street tree in Peterborough and closely related to American Basswood) have a massive amount of flowers on them. The smell is wonderful. The native American Basswoods are not yet in flower but should be so any day. They, too, smell heavenly and attract a multitude of bees. D.M.
