Greensboro Birds

Blue-gray gnatcatchers do enjoy them some pokeweed berries

Add the blue-gray gnatcatcher to your list of birds that eat pokeweed berries. We’ve got several tall pokeweed plants in the garden and dozens edging the woods, and this past week saw jillions of gnatcatchers jostling for the ripening berries. They don’t seem as adept at recognizing the dark purple ripe berries, though, spending a little too much time trying to eat the hard green ones, but once they find a juicy one, they totally go for it.

Blue-gray gnatcatchers finally discovered the birdbath

Have you ever tried photographing these darty little punks? I warn you, copious swearing is involved.

Southern arrowwood viburnum is an absolute bird magnet

Gnatcatchers, red-eyed vireos, redstarts, and pine warblers are the pigeons of the yard this week. You can’t look into the viburnum without spotting several of each. We have a nice thick stand of native Southern arrowwood viburnum on our property, and I’ve opened up a couple smaller stands to the sun to encourage them to grow bigger. If you can grow viburnum at your place, I highly recommend it—all the critters love it. In spring the blooms attract bees and butterflies, birds eat the post-bloom berries, and it makes great cover and perching areas year round. Deer love it, too, so you’ll have to accept a little loss to them. Toss around some deer corn to keep them from stripping it—and to create cute Kodak moments.