Dogwood Harvest

Last spring, the dogwood tree outside our kitchen window sprang to life, greened, and flowered. The flowers are small, but around each cluster of flowers are 4 large bracts, either white or pink, depending on the tree, that I identify as the dogwood flower.  They're very pretty, and persist for quite a long time, unlike some other early blooms, like the cherries.

Eventually the bracts wither and drop, and the tree stands in the full summer sun, gathering energy.  Toward the end of summer small green fruits begin to grow.  They get larger day by day, and then ripen into bright red berries, perhaps a quarter to 3/8 of an inch in diameter.

 Today was harvest day.  I had seen a flock of robins in the yard, and a little later Pam came in and said "You might be interested in what's going on outside the kitchen window."  Indeed.

There was a frenzy of activity.  Birds fluttered into the outer clusters of leaves and berries, scrambling for purchase on the thin, flexible vegetation.  Once stable, they would eat a berry, or perhaps two, then fly away into a nearby tree.  Sometimes they'd grab a berry, and then it would drop.  I couldn't tell if they just weren't good at getting the berries into the gullet, or if they had judged it not ripe enough.

Mostly robins, there were also cardinals, a northern flicker, and a wood pecker with a bright red head.  Then a few starlings appeared.  Unlike the others, they flew first up to a window ledge on the house before coasting down into the foliage.  I watched one gulp down four berries in quick succession before flying off.  The most I saw a robin take in one visit was two.

There was a lull in the action, and we went to the farmers market.  Perhaps half the berries were still on the tree.  By the time we got home, there was one left that we could see, and a few scattered on the ground.

In a few hours, the birds had harvested the dogwood's full production for the year.