Category Archives: Birds

A Dose of Spring

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One thing we can still do while keeping a safe distance from other humans during the Covid-19 virus outbreak is to go outside for a walk.  It’s a great boost to your immune system, and contributes to an overall feeling of well-being.  If you go for a walk in a natural area, it’s especially beneficial.

Swan Creek, Rockhopper Trail, West Amwell Twp. NJ

Life goes on for the other species in the world while we humans are focused on the virus. Here are some animals and plants you might see if you go for a walk in my neighborhood in the mid-Atlantic United States.

Every morning now I hear Wrens, Cardinals, Titmice and other birds singing.  For several weeks Carolina Wren couples have been out shopping for real estate, looking for a good location to build a nest for the upcoming season.  These birds nest in cavities, usually from three to six feet off the ground.  A stump with a pre-made cavity like the one that the couple in the photos below is inspecting looks like very a very desirable property.

Carolina Wrens investigating a nesting site.

Carolina Wren investigating a fallen log with a natural cavity as a possible nesting site.

Carolina Wren standing watch at a possible nesting site.

While walking in the woods, you might hear a chorus of male wood frogs calling from a vernal pool, or see a mass of eggs that resulted from successful wood frog mating.

Male Wood Frogs

Wood Frog

Wood Frog egg mass

When temperatures are warm, bees and some butterflies may be active.  Even when spring temperatures are cooler, flies are active.

Greenbottle Fly (Lucilia sericata). This adult fly can be an effective pollinator, while its larvae are crime scene investigators’ friends, consuming dead rotting flesh or other decaying matter, a task that never goes out of season. The presence of these insects’ larvae can help determine time of death of a corpse.

Fly, unidentified.

Winter was unusually warm where I live in New Jersey.  As a result, the spring bloom season is about 3-4 weeks earlier than normal.  (This is a bit alarming, but since we have enough to worry about right now, I’m just going to focus on enjoying it.) With each passing day, more and more buds break and flowers bloom.

Leatherwood (Dirca palustris) is an early blooming shrub whose flower buds come with their own ‘fur’ coat, just in case the temperatures take a tumble. If the temperatures are warm, a lovely fragrance that even humans can detect wafts many feet away from the flowers.  When the air temperature is cooler, you can still catch the fragrance if you bring your nose right up to a flower and sniff.

Leatherwood (Dirca palustris). Bud scales act as a furry hood that protect the flowers.

The sunburst-like flowers of Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) are blooming, beckoning pollinators to visit, and promising fruit for birds in the fall.

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) blossom, male. Spicebush have male and female flowers on separate plants.

Hepatica, like Leatherwood, wears fur for warmth and to deter herbivores.  Depending on where you live, two species are possible, Round-lobed Hepatica (Anemone americana syn: Hepatica nobilis obtusa, Hepatica americana) and Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Anemone acutiloba syn: Hepatica nobilis acuta, Hepatica acutiloba).

Hepatica in bloom

The earliest of the Trilliums to blossom, Snow Trillium (Trillium nivale), has entered its short bloom season.  As you might guess, it is named for the fact that its flowers may open when snow is still present.  The Latin name nivale means ‘snow white, or growing near snow’.

Snow Trillium (Trillium nivale)

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) has opened its blossoms, hoping for insect visitors to help it with cross-pollination, but if all else fails it will self-pollinate.

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

The lovely Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) is just starting to bloom, luring Bumble Bees to be their pollination facillitators.  This plant’s delicate appearance gives no hint of its narcotic-packed foliage, a reliable deterrent to herbivores that would otherwise be tempted to eat it.

Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)

The first Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) flowers are open, the beginning of several weeks of a floral display from this species.  There are specialist bees that depend on the pollen of this species as the only food that their larvae can digest. In return, these bees are very efficient and reliable pollination partners for Spring Beauty.

Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)

Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica), with Toadshade (Trillium sessile) behind it, in bud

So many other species are waiting in the wings to be the next to bloom, including Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica).

Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)

Everything changes so quickly in spring, from one day to the next and from morning until afternoon.  Visit a natural area often so that you don’t miss anything.  And to give your immune system a boost.  You might even learn something!  Just avoid people.

The author, out for a walk in the woods.

Related Posts

Spicebush or Forsythia?

Bloodroot

Dutchman’s Breeches and Squirrel Corn

A Tale of Two Spring Beauties

Photo Locations

Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve

Goat Hill Overlook, New Jersey

Rockhopper, New Jersey

Resources

All About Birds

National Wildlife Federation Educational Resources

US Forest Service Plant of the Week, Snow Trillium

Rhoads, Ann Fowler; Block, Timothy A.  The Plants of Pennsylvania.  2007

Stearn, William T. Stearn’s Dictionary of Plant Names.  1996

 

 

Holiday Gift Ideas for Your Wild Neighbors

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American Robin with Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) at Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, New Hope, PA

Looking for the perfect holiday gifts for the birds, butterflies, bees and other wildlife neighbors outside your windows?

The answer is simple.  Give them plants that are native to where you live.  Plants and animals have evolved together over many centuries in such a way that they depend on each other for their survival.  Animals depend on native plants for food, shelter, nesting sites and materials.  Plants in turn depend on animals to help disperse their seeds, and in many cases for essential assistance in reproduction, as their pollination intermediaries.

You’ll be doing yourself a favor, too, since native plants, once established, typically don’t require fertilizer, watering or other special care.

The American Robin shown here with Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) was one member of a flock of Robins that swooped down to devour the bright winter-time fruit.  Winterberry Holly has fruit high in carbohydrates and low in fats, a recipe for being ignored during migration season in fall, but devoured during the cold days of winter when birds need those carbohydrates. In exchange for this winter feast, birds ‘disperse’ the seeds complete with fertilizer after the seeds move through a bird’s digestive system.

If you live in North America, here are a few resources to help you learn which plants are native where you live:

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Audubon

North American Native Plant Society

Also check with your local state or province native plant society.

For the birds, another great gift idea is a heated bird bath.  Birds need to drink and bathe even in winter.

What else can you do? Less:

  • Leave the fallen leaves in your planting beds.  They provide habitat for overwintering insects, and the insects are food for birds.
  • Don’t use pesticides or herbicides
  • Reduce your lawn size if possible
  • Chop up leaves on your lawn with a mulching mower to create a natural chemical-free fertilizer

Happy holidays!

Related Posts

A Wildlife, Family and Pet-friendly Lawn

Red-banded Hairstreaks Need Sumacs and Leaf Mulch

For Great Spangled Fritillaries, Leave the Leaf Litter

American Robin with Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) at Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, New Hope, PA

Time for Cranberries!

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Cranberries, especially in the form of relishes and baked goods, are a Thanksgiving tradition made possible by Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon), a low-growing, creeping, evergreen shrub native to North American bogs and fens. Cranberry lends itself well to cultivation for commercial use, making cranberry based dishes possible throughout the year.

Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon)

The flowers of this native shrub bloom in early to mid-summer, a prerequisite for the fruit that will come later in the season.

Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) in flower

In order to produce the tart but luscious and festive fall fruit, Cranberry’s flowers must be pollinated with assistance from insects, primarily bees.

Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) flowers

The flowers are most efficiently pollinated by bees who are capable of sonication, or buzz pollination.  In the case of Cranberries, this process is performed by bees that are able to hang upside down from the bottom edge of the flower’s corolla (collection of petals) and vibrate their wing muscles without moving their wings.  This sets up just the right motion to release pollen from the flower like salt from a shaker dusting the bee’s underside.  When the bee moves on to the next flower, its pollen-dusted abdomen brushes the flower’s stigma (female reproductive part), depositing pollen from the previous flower.

It’s not every bee that has this special talent.  Honey Bees don’t have the skills necessary to buzz pollinate.  The best Cranberry pollinators are the native bees with which it has evolved, and who can sonicate (buzz pollinate), including several species of Bumble Bees, Sweat Bees (Halictidae) and Mining Bees (Andrenidae).  The presence of these native bees significantly increases the yield of commercial cranberry operations.

Bumble Bee getting in position to buzz pollinate a Shooting Star (Dodecatheon Meadia) flower. The structure of this flower is very similar to those of Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon).

Other food we eat, including blueberries, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers are produced by plants whose flowers are also most effectively pollinated through buzz pollination.

With the help of the bees, this tough little shrub produces abundant fruit that ripens in the fall and resists spoiling, perfect timing for inclusion in a late fall or winter feast.

Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon)

In addition to being tasty and nutritious, Cranberry has medicinal value. Consumption of cranberries or unsweetened cranberry juice can help prevent urinary tract infections.

Humans are not the only consumers of cranberries.  Birds including Sharp-tailed and Ruffed Grouse, Bobwhites, Mourning Doves and American Tree Sparrows are known to eat cranberries,

Ruffed Grouse

American Tree Sparrow

as are Chipmunks.

Eastern Chipmunk

Cranberry hosts the caterpillars of several moths who can only eat the leaves of this and a few related species.  The Bog Copper butterfly is also a specialist on Cranberry and the closely related Small Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccus).

Cranberry is indigenous in the United States from Maine to Minnesota, south from northeastern Illinois to Delaware, and from there reaching as far south as Tennessee and North Carolina primarily through the Appalachians; it can also be found in coastal Washington state and Oregon, and Nevada county in California.  In Canada it is native from Newfoundland to Ontario, in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.  The top five states in commercial cranberry production are Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington.  British Columbia and Quebec are the top cranberry producing provinces in Canada.

Why is the range of this plant primarily in northern latitudes and higher elevations?  The answer lies in the fact that Cranberry is much less successful in producing flowers and fruit unless it goes through a sufficient period of dormancy induced by day length change and cold temperatures.  To successfully break dormancy, the plants must experience a cumulative number of ‘chill hours’, usually defined as temperatures between 32 and 45 °F (0 – 7.2 °C), during the winter months.  A study done by University of Wisconsin researchers found that 1500 chill hours seemed to be in the optimal range for successful bloom of cranberry flowers.  As the climate changes and night time temperatures warm, the geographic range where these optimal conditions can be met may shrink.

Enjoy those cranberry dishes while you can!

Manoff’s Apple Cranberry Chutney!

Related Posts

The Buzz about Shooting Star

Love Blueberries?  Thank a Native bee

Resources

Cech, Rick; Tudor, Guy.  Butterflies of the East Coast.  2005.

Eastman, John.  The Book of Swamp and Bog.  1995.

Eaton, Eric R.; Kauffman, Ken.  Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America.  2007.

Foster, Steven; Duke, James A.  A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America.  2000.

Hoffmann, David.  Medical Herbalism.  2003.

Rhoads, Ann Fowler; Block, Timothy A.  The Plants of Pennsylvania.  2007

Biobest Sustainable crop Management

Illinois Wildflowers

https://illinoiswildflowers.info/plant_insects/plants/vaccinium_macrocarpum.html

http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/flower_insects/plants/lg_cranberry.htm

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Plant Database

The Canadian Encyclopedia

University of Wisconsin Extension; Cranberry Crop Management Journal

University of Massachusetts, Natural History of the American Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon)

USDA NRCS Plants Database

USDA REEIS Cranberry Cold Hardiness in Relation to Dormancy and Bud Development; Source: University of Wisconsin

United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service New Jersey Field Office – Cranberry Highlights

US Forest Service – What is a Fen?

WisCONTEXT: Pollinators Provide Extra Buzz To Wisconsin’s Cranberry Crop

https://www.wiscontext.org/pollinators-provide-extra-buzz-wisconsins-cranberry-crop

Love Blueberries? Thank a Native Bee!

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It’s blueberry season in New Jersey!  There are plenty of delicious deep blue orbs ripening for use on cereal, in pancakes, pies, crisps, cobblers, muffins, or just for snacking.  The blue color reflects the presence of anthocyanins, antioxidants with anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and anti-cancer properties. Blueberries are not only tasty, but good for you.

A Bowl of Blueberries

For anyone who loves blueberries, you should know that some of our native bees are the most effective pollinators of this flavorsome fruit.

Blueberries are the fruit of deciduous shrubs that generally bloom in spring.  Most commercial blueberries in this region are cultivars of native blueberry species, usually Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum).  Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) is a species whose fruit is commonly harvested and sold in New England.  If the flowers are pollinated, the fruit ripens in mid to late summer, depending on their growing conditions.

Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium)

An essential partner in the production of blueberries are the bees that are the primary pollinators for blueberry flowers.  While commercial growers may use Honey Bees to pollinate their crops, there are several species of native bees that are much more efficient blueberry pollinators.

How could that be?  Honey Bees pollinate flowers for a living.  Many are shipped from farm to farm specifically to pollinate crops.  (I think of them as the migrant workers of the insect world.)  How could there be bees that are more efficient pollinators?

Flowers come in all shapes and sizes, and they store and dispense their nectar (if they produce any) and pollen in many different ways.  Blueberry flowers are bell-shaped, with a narrow opening that allows access to the flowers’ nectar from the bottom of the hanging blossom.

Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) Flowers

Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) Flowers

The pollen is most efficiently dispensed from the flowers’ anthers through a process called sonication, or ‘buzz’ pollination.  Buzz pollination is a process of releasing pollen by which the pollinator clings to the flower and vibrates its wing muscles without moving its wings.  This sets up enough of a vibration for the anthers to discharge a dusting of pollen on the flower visitor.  The wing vibration makes a buzzing sound, which gives this technique its name.  (Buzz pollination is the bee equivalent of ventriloquism!.)  Some of the pollen will be carried from flower to flower to enable pollination, while the rest is a pay-off for this service, and will be eaten by the bee and her larvae.  Bees drink nectar, but pollen is also a very important food source for them.

Honey Bees are not capable of buzz pollination, but several families of native bees are, including bumble bees, large carpenter bees, mining (Andrenid) bees, many sweat bees, some mason (Osmia) bees and Melitta bees.  Highbush and Lowbush Blueberry shrubs evolved with these bees who are native to the same region and habitats.  These native bees are able to handle the flowers more quickly and dispense and carry more pollen than the Honey Bees who lack this athletic skill.  Mason bees generally are very swift and efficient pollinators, able to process flowers many times more quickly than Honey Bees.

Mining Bee (Andrenid) visiting Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) Flower

Some of the native bees who are able to buzz pollinate specialize on visiting the flowers of blueberries; they and their larvae can only digest pollen from blueberry plants.  This is a great benefit to the blueberries, since these bees spend all of their foraging time visiting blueberry flowers, and there is no risk of pollen being dropped off on the wrong species.  It’s a risk for the bees, however.  If no blueberry flowers are available when the bees are active, the bees have no back-up plan; they could starve.  On the other hand, if blueberry flowers are available, it’s like assembly line processing. The bees know how to handle the flowers very efficiently to get the nectar and pollen they need to survive.

Mason Bee (Osmia) visiting Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) Flower

Blueberries are not the only crop that is most efficiently pollinated through sonication.  Cranberries, tomatoes, tomatillos, potatoes, peppers and eggplant are some of the other crops that have a higher rate of pollination when native bees with this skill are available to help pollinate their flowers.

A love of blueberries is not exclusive to people. Many other mammals and birds also enjoy the tasty fruit. Black bears are probably second to humans as consumers of blueberries, but fox, rabbits, raccoons, mice and many more eat their share, too.

Red Fox are among the animals that love blueberries.

Ruffed and Spruce Grouse relish the bounty blueberries provide,

Spruce Grouse

as do many other birds including Bluebirds, Catbirds, Scarlet Tanagers, Tufted Titmice, Veeries, Robins, and Brown Thrashers.

Eastern Bluebirds love blueberries

Veery in Fringtree (Chionanthus virginicus) Veeries are among the many birds who eat blueberries.

Butterflies and moths depend on blueberries, too, but in a completely different way.  Many species use the leaves and flowers as their caterpillar food.  The Natural History Museum’s Database of the World’s Lepidopteran Hostplants (HOSTS) lists 32 species that use Highbush Blueberry as caterpillar food, 42 that use Lowbush Blueberry.

Spring Azure butterfly. Highbush and Lowbush Blueberry shrubs are a caterpillar food plant for Spring Azures.

Saddleback moth caterpillar. Highbush and Lowbush Blueberry shrubs are a caterpillar food plant for Saddlebacks.

Caterpillars are an important part of the diet of many birds and other animals, so feeding caterpillars means that these other species will have the food they need, too.

Female Common Yellowthroat with Caterpillar

Blueberries are great landscape plants.  Not only do they provide food for our many animal neighbors (and us, if we’re quick!), but they are beautiful throughout the seasons, with their spring flowers, summer fruit, fabulous fall color and winter architectural structure and slightly shredding bark.  Why would anyone plant the non-native, invasive Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus) for its brief flash of color, when they could have blueberries instead?

Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) with Lichen in Fall

Highbush Blueberry is native primarily in the eastern third of the United States and Canada, but also in Washington state and British Columbia.  It is common in dry to wet woods, in thickets and on stream banks.  It can grow to a height of about 13 feet (4 meters).  Lowbush Blueberry is native from Manitoba to Newfoundland and Labrador provinces in Canada, and south as far as Tennessee and North Carolina (except Kentucky) in the United States. It can be found in dry woods and barrens, where its partnership with mycorrhizal fungi helps it to get the nutrients it needs from the soil.  It is a low growing plant, usually to a maximum height of about 2.5 feet (.75 meters).

The USDA NRCS Plant Database lists 25 species of blueberries that are native in different regions in North America.  Find one that’s native where you live, and add it to your landscape to enjoy its beauty and bounty.

A Bowl of Blueberries

A Bowl of Blueberries

Related Posts

Nutritious Fall Foliage – What Makes Leaves So Colorful?

The Buzz About Shooting Star

Partridge Pea Puzzles

Resources

Cech, Rick; Tudor, Guy.  Butterflies of the East Coast.  2005.

Eastman, John.  The Book of Forest and Thicket.  1992.

Eastman, John.  The Book of Field and Roadside.  2003.

Holm, Heather.  Bees An Identification and Native Plant Forage Guide.  2017.

Mader, Eric; Shepherd, Matthew; Vaughan, Mace; Black, Scott Hoffman; LeBuhn, Gretchen.  Attracting Native Pollinators: Protecting North America’s Bees and Butterflies.  2011.

Martin, Alexander C.;  Zim, Herbert S.; Nelson, Arnold L.  American Wildlife & Plants A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits.  1951.

Rhoads, Ann Fowler; Block, Timothy A.  The Plants of Pennsylvania.  2007

Tallamy, Douglas W.  Bringing Nature Home.  2007

Wagner, David L.;  Caterpillars of Eastern North America, 2005.

Wilson, Joseph S.; Carril, Olivia Messinger.  The Bees in Your Backyard. 2016.

Illinois Wildflowers

Natural History Museum’s Database of the World’s Lepidopteran Hostplants – Vaccinium corymbosum

Natural History Museum’s Database of the World’s Lepidopteran Hostplants – Vaccinium angustifolium

 

Hackberry, Butterflies and Birds

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Common Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) is a tree whose ridged, warty bark makes it easy to recognize in any season.  It may be easiest to spot in winter, since there are fewer leaves to distract from Hackberry’s distinctive outerwear.

Common Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis)

Look for Hackberry on a winter day that’s a little warmer than normal, and you might be rewarded with a glimpse of one of the butterflies that are among Hackberry’s known associates, the Mourning Cloak and the Question Mark.

Mourning Cloak butterfly

Question Mark butterfly. It is named for the white markings on its wing.

Both of these butterflies survive the winter as adults, spending most of the time sheltering in dry accommodations such as under loose bark, in a woodpile, or in a crevice or hole in a tree.  The butterflies are able to produce an anti-freeze-like substance that keeps them from succumbing to the winter cold.  They are mostly inactive during the winter; they rarely eat and don’t reproduce.  But they may venture out on a warmish winter day to look for a snack of minerals from rotting fruit, dung, sap or mud puddles.  When you are a butterfly that wakes up from a winter nap in northern latitudes, you have to have a flexible diet.  Not many flowers are blooming to offer nectar during the cold winter months.

While these butterflies may be found anywhere in the woods, in the warmer months when reproduction is on their mind, they are known to associate with Hackberry trees because they are one of the species whose leaves the caterpillars of both these butterflies can eat.  In addition to Hackberries, Mourning Cloak caterpillars use the leaves of a variety of trees, including willows, elms, birch, cottonwoods and aspen.  Question Mark caterpillars can also eat elm tree and nettle leaves.

Question Mark caterpillar on Hackberry leaves

In the spring and summer months, you may see additional butterflies whose caterpillars specialize on Hackberry leaves.  These species depend solely on Hackberries for their survival.  They include the curious looking and aptly named American Snout, the Tawny Emperor, and Hackberry Emperor.

American Snout butterfly drinking nectar from Short-toothed Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum)

The American Snout drinks nectar in addition to seeking out minerals.  Its long ‘nose’ is thought to have evolved to look like the stem of a leaf, which together with the cryptic coloration of its wings helps this butterfly to hide in plain sight, disguised as a dead leaf.

Tawny Emperor

Hackberry Emperor

Because Tawny and Hackberry Emperors rarely nectar, you are most likely to encounter them in or near wooded areas where their caterpillar food is present.  Their diet of minerals from mud, sap, and rotting materials such as fruit and dung is similar to that of the Mourning Cloak and Question Mark.  Hackberry Emperors also find human sweat to be a good nutritional source.  It is the species of butterfly I have most often seen landing on people to get a quick snack!

Hackberry Emperor getting minerals from soil and rocks.

Hackberry Emperor getting minerals from the sweat on someone’s shirt!

Hackberry Emperor getting minerals from the hood of a car. Is it the paint or the dirt?

Not every caterpillar will live to become an adult butterfly, since there are many predators to elude first.  The Hackberry Emperor caterpillar in the photo below has fallen victim to a parasitic wasp. Her larva will develop inside the caterpillar, consuming its insides until the wasp is mature enough to emerge.  As you might expect, the caterpillar is unlikely to survive.

Hackberry Emperor caterpillar, with a predatory wasp.

Several moth species including the IO Moth, and White-marked and Banded Tussock Moths also use Hackberries, among other woody species, as food for their caterpillars.

White-marked Tussock Moth

Banded Tussock Moth

The round growths on the leaves in the photo below are galls called Hackberry Nipple Galls.  They are caused by a type of true bug in a group called psyllids, or less appealingly, jumping plant lice.  The insects develop inside the galls and emerge when they mature.

Common Hackberry with ripening fruit and Hackberry Nipple Galls, caused by Pachypsylla celtidismamma.

Many of these insects are a potential bounty of food for birds.  I watched the young Tufted Titmouse below and its nest mates forage for food and play among the branches of a mature Hackberry.

Tufted Titmouse in Hackberry

Hackberry’s somewhat inconspicuous flowers are pollinated by the wind, blooming at the same time that the leaves are beginning to emerge.  Hackberries are monoecious; they have some flowers with just male reproductive parts, others with just female flowers, with both types of flowers on the same trees.  In the photo below, both male and female flowers are present.  The female flowers have two stigma-tipped styles that are spread in a ‘v’ shape projecting from the flower. (They look like forceps, or they also remind me of the arcade games where you have to use a similar looking tool to retrieve a toy from a glass enclosure.)  The male flowers have five or six anther-tipped stamens that barely project beyond the enclosing sepals.  A tree may even have some flowers with both male and female parts.  Pollen is carried by the wind from the anthers and deposited on the stigmas.

Common Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) flowers. The female flowers have 2 styles spread in a ‘v’ shape. The male flowers each have 5-6 dark-colored anthers.

If the flowers are pollinated, a fruit called a drupe is produced.  A drupe is a fleshy fruit that has a stony enclosure around the seed inside, like a peach.  The fruit ripens in fall, but may persist into winter. Birds as diverse as Mockingbirds,

Mockingbird

Pileated Woodpeckers,

Pileated Woodpecker

and Wood Ducks eat Hackberry fruit.

A pair of Wood Ducks

Raccoons and squirrels are among the small mammals who eat the fruit.

A raccoon peaking out from its home.

Common Hackberry’s natural habitat includes wooded floodplains and hillsides, and can grow to a height of about 115 feet (35 meters).  It is native in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec provinces in Canada and most of the United States, from New Hampshire to Montana in the north, south through Utah, New Mexico and east to Florida, except Louisiana, although it is less common in the southern part of its range.   It is also often used as a street tree.

There is a related species, Sugarberry (C. laevigata) that is native in the southern half of the United States and in the western states.  Dwarf Hackberry (Celtis pumila) is native in Ontario, Michigan, and from New Jersey west to Kansas, and south from Texas to Florida.  The butterflies that specialize on Hackberries use these species, too!

Common Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis)

Resources

Allen, Thomas J.; Brock, Jim P.; Glassberg, Jeffrey. Caterpillars in the Field and Garden. 2005.

Cech, Rick; Tudor, Guy.  Butterflies of the East Coast.  2005.

Eastman, John.  The Book of Forest and Thicket.  1992.

Eaton, Eric R.; Kauffman, Ken.  Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America.  2007.

Eiseman, Charley; Charney, Noah.  Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates.  2010.

Martin, Alexander C.;  Zim, Herbert S.; Nelson, Arnold L.  American Wildlife & Plants A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits.  1951.

Rhoads, Ann Fowler; Block, Timothy A.  The Plants of Pennsylvania.  2007

Tallamy, Douglas W.  Bringing Nature Home.  2007

Wagner, David L.;  Caterpillars of Eastern North America, 2005.

Illinois Wildflowers
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/hackberry.html
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/tables/table153.html

USDA NRCS Plant Database
https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=CEOC
https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_ceoc.pdf

USDA US Forest Service

Oregon State University College of Agricultural Sciences Department of Horticulture Landscape Plants