Robins love Beautyberries and Winterberries. Usually. But they let some berries wither ... and never explain why. So I'll have a go at making some sense of a few bird/berry mysteries. PLEASE CLICK 'LIKE' IF YOU APPRECIATE THE MOVIE
What a delightful channel! Totally deserves ten times the subscribers! Thank you for your hard work to take us on these very enjoyable and engaging adventures.
You deserve an award for your videos. My husband heard your voice and said she has the narration voice you wouldn’t care what they talk about you would sit and listen for hours
Now that is a lovely, welcome compliment, Jasmine. Thank you! (And stay tuned for the movie I'll post this coming Friday afternoon about how Trumpeter Swans take off. They are magnificent.)
I know what you mean. They're such common birds that it's easy to dismiss them as ordinary. But they're quite interesting. You might like to see a couple of other films I've done about these familiar but fascinating birds: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cUuUhrCx5F4.html and ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bRvwO2BNQCs.html
I've always wondered about this! And with respect to evolution this seems so smart. They will be able to eat in the coldest times of the year, especially if snow has fallen and is hard to ground feed.
I'm glad you enjoyed this video. It doesn't get all that many views, but it's one of my favorites--interesting to film! And by the way, we saw a dozen Robins eating those Black Chokeberries last week. Apparently this is the year those berries finally got tasty.
It’s really nice to hear that you enjoyed it. Thanks for telling me so. And by the way, I made a movie last year about how Robins find worms, and I bet you would find the info in it. Interesting.
Central florida. I have also found the beautyberry leaves pretty good mosquito repellant. I started with one transplanted beautyberry 20 years ago...now they are all over the neighborhood 🤐
I answered you early in the day Tuesday, but I'm not seeing my reply here, so if you get two answers that's why. What I said was something to the effect: thank you for the praise. And yes indeed, catch up on my recent videos ASAP. I recommend the one about Warblers, Gnatcatchers, and Kinglets, if you haven't already seen that one.
I’m pretty new to your channel, Jo. Suffice it to say I’m Hooked! I’m impressed with your obvious knowledge, but even more your humor and your ability to take in a great amount of observation, then come to the right conclusions. I’m 82, still really interested in this stuff! Don’t stop moving, keep up all this brain stuff! I think we all hope you’re around a Whole Lot Longer
As for being around a whole lot longer, my husband said the same thing last night. And I enjoyed your compliment so much that I read it to him. Thanks.
Excellent video and really great close up footage of those robins! I love robins but, unfortunately, they seldom appear on my property. They show up now and then in the winter, mainly to take a bath or dine on dogwood tree berries. A goal of mine is to entice a few to stick around. After seeing this, I think maybe I should plant a patch of winterberries for them.
Yes, but if you do, be sure to buy male and female plants. I'd suggest the Beautyberries instead. They're native, and you need not worry about plant sex. Good luck!
I almost ended the movie by saying just that, Barbara, that the Robins are mostly gone by now here in Missouri, and even when they come back, they won't be eating berries. The males will be whacked out on spring hormones, and both sexes will be eating insects to get the protein they need for nesting. It'll be close to six months maybe before I see them gathering berries again.
For the love of birds I am happy to hear such resounding praise for this movie because I gave it my all and was pleased with how it turned out. It’s nice to have my own opinion of it confirmed.
Thanks, Donna. I got much more into the topic than I expected to. Now I'll be disappointed every time I see a Robin with a berry--and don't have an excuse to try to capture him on film with it.
Most territorial bird in my yard is definitely the Mockingbird . This year s/he has red Holly berries and HAD red Pyracantha (Firethorn) berries . Mockingbird perches in the limbs of bare pecan tree above holly bushes and DARES other birds-with-berry-envy , to approach . . .
Native Beautyberries are a good bet for the winter. In warmer seasons, try Elderberries, Gray Dogwoods, or Serviceberries. (Glad you enjoyed the video.)
@@JoAlwoodBIRDSANDTHENSOME I love the beautyberries myself - they are so pretty! I do have Choke Cherry trees, but I think that's a summer fruiting tree. thanks for tips, I'll be shopping for something early in the Spring!
Thank you for your videos, Jo I think I remember reading not too long ago about the ability of such birds to get accurate feedback about the nutritional content of food they ingest, and that they balance their feeding on individual bushes/trees, but also berry types, depending on the macro and micronutrients they receive (lipids, sugars, anthocyanins etc). These contents can of course vary from year to year or by soil quality, herbivore load on the particular plant before the berry production, etc. I would hazard a guess that a well guarded bush that sees little eating might be one that has produced a particular anthocyanin or other micronutrient that the birds require in some small amount (given the rest of their diet) but find the bitterness/toxins too high to consume any more than that. In other words, they value having access to the little they need, not to the full product of the bush, and hence they merely seem to be guarding something of low value. Just a speculative guess that came to mind, perhaps there is some other reason! Happy new year
moolloos Wow! That is so interesting. I figured before I posted this movie that one of my viewers might be able to add valuable information that I had not found. Bingo. That’s you. Thank you.
@@JoAlwoodBIRDSANDTHENSOME 'Plant-Animal Communication' by Schaefer and Ruxton (particularly ch3-5) is a good reference for those interested in the relationship between fruit-producing plants and birds as their seed-dispersing frugivores and what both parties look for in that relationship. If I remember correctly, that is where I read about this topic
@@moolloos9975 A month ago, that's when I needed Schaefer and Ruxton's book.But I might try to get hold of a copy anyway. I've become interested in the connections between wildlife and native plants, so some sort of movie about those connections is likely in the future. I don't know specifically what topic I might light on, but maybe "Plant-Animal Communication" would give me some ideas. Thanks for telling me about it.
@@moolloos9975 I'm thinking I'll add a few sentences to the video I published that will include your information. It's valuable insight. Would you say that this shortened version of what you wrote is essentially accurate? After this movie published, One of my viewers pointed out that Schaefer and Ruxton have written a book called Plant-Animal Communication, which asserts that birds can keep track of the nutrients they ingest and balance their food intake, taking into account which nutrients they've had plenty of and which they still need. And they may know which food sources have important micronutrients. If a bush with such a micronutrient also happened to be bitter, then birds might well regard it as a valuable-though not tasty-food source worth guarding. That info seemed so pertinent to the mystery of the losers of the fall cookoff that I’m adding it here to the original video.
Great subject Jo! I have walked by winterberry bushes admiring their full red berries wondering where are the Robins? Not thinking the Robins are around but just not interested. Why wouldn't they be - looks good to me. Aha, leave it to your great observations that maybe it's not as ripe or as delicious / nutritious as other available options. Makes sense. Was surprised to see the White-throats eating berries. Don't recall ever seeing a sparrow eat a berry. Wonderful footage and info as usual and not to leave out your wit - seed eaters do eat like sewing machines! ; )
Funny you should mention the White-throats eating berries, Cathy, because that's how this film originated. I'm doing a ten minute video about them that I've been gathering footage for this last year. One day I saw one fly into the Chokeberry, and when I set the camera up on him, you know what I saw. For several days, I was sitting in a blind near that bush an hour or so every day trying for more footage of it. That kind of got me into looking at the Robins eating berries. Big deal, I thought. Everybody knows they like berries. But then I started noticing the anomalies, and I got interested, then excited. But this script was one of the harder ones to write. It started out pedestrian. And stayed that way. And stayed that way. Eventually, I managed to polish it so that it had some pizzazz. Glad you liked it.
Thanks for another informative video,, Jo! I didn't know about fat content and sugar/ bitterness levels. Most every plant I add has to provide something for the wildlife in my Illinois yard. I still have some ecologically useless hostas and lilacs and the like, just because they're pretty. I planted many berry shrubs, not knowing at the time about dioecious plants, so I dont have enough of some of them to ever produce fruit. And living in a subdivision with small, tightly packed lots and tall trees, I don't have much space or light to correct my mistake. Grrr... My 3 year-old beautyberry doesn't seem to get eaten either.
Yes, those lilacs are hard to give up - not only pretty but so sweet smelling. We have the same problem you do with dioecious- new word for me- plants. My husband is the gardener here, and five years ago he put in three Possumhaws without realizing that he has better check the sex of them. No berries. He keeps saying he’s going to put in one of each sex sometime so that they will give us berries. Have you seen the two movies I did about the importance of putting in native plants? I think you are exactly the audience I was aiming for with them.
I'm glad to hear you think so, and thanks for commenting. I also did a vid that might interest you about a flock of Cedar Waxwings stripping a holly tree, much to the consternation of the local Robins.
Cedar Waxwings? Oh that we did! We get them in the yard. In fact I posted a movie a couple of months ago about them bathing in our artificial stream. But we never see them on our berries, even though we have LOTS of berries. 🤷♀️
![Robins Eating Berries: Why They Let Some Cold Weather Berries Wither [NARRATED]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
