We have a good stand of a variety of bushes, with the berries ripening at different times to prolong the harvest. Fresh blueberries at breakfast is one of the delights of the season.
It seems, though, that we aren't the only ones with a taste for the little nuggets. A certain summer tanager has his sights set on them, too. He discovered them last year and the long intervening winter did not cause him to forget them. He is downright brazen about snatching the berries. He'll sit on the adjacent grape vine, announce his intentions with a chatter, and dive right under the bird-netting to snag a berry. Then it's back to the grape vine to nom it down.
The evidence of his crime...
That bird needs to go eat a bee and leave our blueberries alone.
4 comments:
"That bird needs to go eat a bee and leave our blueberries alone."
Ack! NO! I had a western tanager sitting on my beehive the other evening eating all my late-arriving pollen gatherers as they came in for the night. I was flummoxed, because while I love tanagers and have never had one in my yard before, he was eating! my! bees!!!
The thing is, you can go to the store and buy blueberries, but where else can you get such a stunning view of a tanager?
So, can the tanager sing and eat blueberries at the same time. We have a mockingbird who merrily sings - doesn't miss a beat - while eating blueberries :-)
Kat,
Yeah, they used to eat our bees, too. We no longer keep bees though - we grow blueberries ;)
Woodswalker,
We don't mind sharing, but the little sucker (while beautiful) is quite a pig when it comes to berries.
JSK,
Oh yes, he multi-tasks quite well.
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