baneberry

  

Red Baneberry, also known as Toadroot and Chinaberry, grows in shady damp areas.  The white flowers grow in spikes that bloom during May in the wild wild woods.  Through the summer months, Baneberry Actaea rubra  ripens its fruits, which are egg-shaped berries, one-half inch long, shiny, containing several seeds.  In late summer, the berries turn bright red with a black dot on them. The berries are bitter and very poisonous, except to birds that disperse the seeds.

Downy woodpeckers and squirrel

The Downy Woodpecker parents are busy feeding the young birds in their tree cavity nest.  Every few minutes, one of them brings a worm or bug to the young.  At least one is now strong enough to climb up the inside wall of the cavity and beg for more food.  Here, the male gives a worm to the hatchling.

 When the adult birds are away, a red squirrel comes by to see if he can peek in.

 

Downy Woodpeckers feeding young

The pair of Downy Woodpeckers, seen on May 15 excavating a nest cavity in the wild wild woods, have successfully hatched their clutch of 6 eggs.  For the last several days, they spent many hours hunting for small insects and worms to feed their young.  Sometimes hunting is good; they have to line up and take turns delivering the meals.  For protection from intruders, these small birds purposely create a cozy cavity with an opening just big enough for them to squeeze through.

Worms? Monsters?

Worms?  Monsters? These are “finger galls”.

Insects or mites feeding on a leaf, or laying eggs on or injecting eggs into part of a plant, cause galls to form. The leaf tissue reacts by increased production of normal plant hormones and localized plant growth.  The outcome is an abnormal plant structure called a gall.  These look like tiny wiggly "fingers" protruding from elm leaves.

Gall formation usually occurs in late spring during the accelerated growth period of new leaves, shoots, and flowers.  This is when insects might be feeding on plant tissue, or emerging in their life cycle to lay eggs.  The gall-making insect develops inside the gall and the gall continues to grow as the organism feeds and matures.  In autumn and winter, some birds feast on the insects they find inside galls, especially on goldenrod.