Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here. A couple of weeks ago I showed you some pictures of the birds that were feeding on common buckthorn berries in our yard. I’ve finally processed the videos I took and wanted to show you just how much action there was.
American Robins & European Starlings in Common Buckthorn
The Common Buckthorn species is naturalized and invasive in parts of North America. We didn’t realize this tree was growing in our garden for a few years because its form and leaves are very similar to the Miss Kim lilacs that it’s growing near. When it finally grew taller we could see that it was an introduced tree. Charlie did some research to figure out just what it was.
The birds gobbled up the plentiful berries.
According to Wikipedia:
The seeds and leaves are mildly poisonous for humans and most other animals, but are readily eaten by birds, who disperse the seeds in their droppings. The toxins cause stomach cramps and laxative effects that may function in seed dispersal.
We would like to remove this tree but it’s behind a few shrubs that make it difficult to get to. This tree was full of berries before this flock descended on it. Here is a video of some of the action.
If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.
As you could see by the end of the video there were very few berries left on the tree and ultimately there were no berries left.
There are very few berries left at this point.
It is very rare to see so many American Robins in January but some are more hardy and stick around all winter although we’ve never see a flock this large before. It was a treat to get to see all the different colorings from the very dark orange to the paler looking ones. I hope you enjoyed seeing them too.
Join the Nature Friday Blog Hop
We are joining the LLB Gang for their Nature Friday Blog Hop. You should pop over to their blog to see all the other posts.
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How very cool, you were having your own Bird Festival!!!
We have popcorn trees that are invasive. I understand why people planted them because they have nice colorful leaves in the fall (and most of the trees down here don’t they are either evergreens or they just drop their leaves without the color show you get in the North) but they pop up everywhere. The birds seem to love their seeds that look like popcorn. We would like to get rid of the ones here and plant native trees but some of them are in difficult locations to do that. Poor geese (they are back) but between the island being at a 90 degree angle and the red shouldered hawks and owl I am afraid they are going to have a tough time this year.
Amazing video!
We have a hawthorn tree in our yard. Usually it’s filled with berries. But for some reason, this year it didn’t put out as much. This morning I saw a few robins eat up the last of them.
Stay warm in this frigid weather we’ve been having lately!
We loved your video with the birdies gobbling up all of the yummy berries!
When Robins appear, it makes me feel like spring can’t be too far away but today as the windchill sits at -4ºF the few who have arrived are probably wondering why the heck they came early! Stay warm and have a great weekend. As always, superb photos and video. 👍🏻
Cindy and Charlie what beautiful photos and video…almost like they could fly right out of my monitor.
I just happened to see a yellow-bellied Sapsucker on my suet….the first time ever. Evidently the winter in the South east. Happy Accident
Hugs Cecilia
Hari OM
that’s a lot of robins with the occasional starling… any other bird didn’t stand a chance!!! it’s a lovely video, Cindy (and I like Kevin’s music snippets too!) – thanks for sharing it with us. YAM xx
it sure is a lot of action going on in that bush and it’s really amazing I’ve never seen anything like it. I love the photo to they are absolutely adorable
That’s a great action video of your robins and starlings. They certainly have healthy appetites. I love the soundtrack too.
Happy Nature Friday.
Cheers! Gail.
So many robins! Our feeders have been doing brisk business as we have had a severe cold snap here.
Woofs,
Ollie
We did see 2 rtobins last week before it got cold! They usually come through the last week of February and first week of March and they feast on the Mountain Ash berries! This year their are loads waiting for them. We LOVED your video and we don’t have Common Buckthorne here (yet). But we do have many other invasive species. Thanks for the great post, the wonderful video and for stopping by and visiting us! Have an AWESOME day!
How kind of you to maintain a food source for the local wildlife! We don’t see any birds all winter except for geese, hawks, and eagles. Either birds with larger mass are the only ones able to stay warm here in the mountains, or I’m too nearsighted to see the little ones!
Oh,how FABulous! They are eating those berries like Ma eats Doritos! 🤣
Kisses,
Ruby ♥
It is nice that the birds have those berries to munch on. Good thing Timber isn’t there or he might be munching too:(
Woos – Lightning, Misty, and Timber
So interesting! I’ve never seen more than 3 or 4 robins together either. Those berries must be a real treat to them.
Such beautiful pictures Cindy! We also have lots of Robins around here this year..they love to tease the dogs by hopping around in the backyard.
I have never seen that many Robins in fact I’m not sure that I’ve seen more than two and that was many years ago I haven’t seen any here in Florida
Charlee: “Ooohhh … If you don’t want that tree, we will send Dada to go get it.”
Chaplin: “He can plant it right outside the window so we can watch the birds come and get the berries.”
Lulu: “That seems like an awful lot of work to make Dada go to just so you can watch more birds.”
Charlee: “Maybe, but it’s a sacrifice we’re willing to make.”
We have robins here as well. The summer ones migrate south for the winter and then the winter ones come from further up north. I have never seen so many together though.
Your pictures are amazing.
That really is an amazing video, in so many ways, and I really enjoyed it! **Wow!!** How lucky you were to be able to catch all that in photos and on a video. I’ve never seen anything like that and don’t know that I ever will. It’s kind of unfortunate that the “Common Buckthorn” is an invasive species because the birds obviously love it.
Wow, those birds sure were HUNGRY!
I wonder if the paler robins were young ones or females?
Amazing to see them al in such a feeding frenzy! Sometimes we have cedar waxwings here in large numbers, looking for things to devour,