For the birds

Dogwood berries for wildlife — ***Pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) fruit which is favored by catbirds and vireos among others.***

The birds are preparing for their annual fall migration. With the long journey ahead of them they will need plenty of food resources high in calories and protein. Bird feeding stations with plenty of sunflower seeds are one source of high energy/high protein foods but there are other sources and they literally grow on trees.

By late August where I live most of the soft and juicy fruits like raspberry (Rubus strigosus), blackberry (R. allegheniensis), and blueberry (Vaccinium myrtilloides and V. angustifolium) are done although there are still some dewberries (R. pubescens) and creeping blackberries (R. setosus) in the woods. At this time arrow-woods (Viburnum dentatum and V. rafinesquianum), Canada elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), and pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) are coming into fruit.

Many fruits are sweet with sugars but some are rich in fats or lipids. Avocados and olives are familiar examples. Studies on dark fruited viburnums have found that they are rich in lipids. By dry weight southern arrow-wood (Viburnum dentatum) is 41.3% fats (that’s a lot of energy) and 2.6% protein. These numbers are similar in some but not all dark-fruited viburnums. Lipid content is correlated with seed shape and pigmentation. Blue fruits with round seeds have higher lipid content. Black fruits with flat seeds have lower lipid contents. Red fruits with flat seeds are low in lipids while red fruits with round seeds have a bit more. The lipids produce the blue iridescence in the fruit which is attractive to birds and are a nice benefit for hungry birds.

Southern arrow-wood does well in moderately fertile soils that do not dry out too rapidly. Mine receive full sun for about eight hours a day.

***Southern arrow-wood (Viburnum dentatum)*** **laden with fruit.**

Does the dark-colored fruit of pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia, shown at the top of the page) have a high lipid content? So far I have not found any information on the fruits themselves although some species of dogwood have lipid-rich seeds. I’ve observed evening grosbeaks eating the seeds. Pagoda dogwood is a small tree-like species common in the understory of hardwood forests with rich soil and small enough for a garden.

Canadian elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) bushes growing near my house are beginning to mature fruit. I’ve never been able to eat more than a few elderberries in all the years it has been here as the birds eat the fruit as soon as it ripens. Its red-fruited relative called red elderberry (S. pubens) blooms earlier in April and matures thick clusters of soft red berries that are eaten by robins and catbirds. Both elderberry species thrive in rich most soil near the edges of forested areas.

Elderberries for wildlife — **Canadian elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)**

The arrow-wood, pagoda dogwood, and elderberry fruits will soon be gone usually by September 10th. But some other fruiting trees and shrubs will be ripe around that time. These include gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa), nannyberry (Viburnum lentago), hawthorns (Crataegus spp.), and mountain ash (Sorbus spp,). These shrubs will do well in any rich moist soil in full sun to partial shade.

To help out birds that remain in the winter I have planted small-fruited crabapple trees in different places. Robins, ruffed grouse, and sometimes pileated woodpeckers will eat the smaller fruited crab apples like Malus sargentii while blue jays and other birds go after the larger fruited varieties like Dolgo Crab or any feral apple for that matter. The fruits become softer after a few freezes and in years of heavy fruit set some apples will remain on the trees as late as March.

Other fruit-bearing shrubs with winter persistent fruit are highbush cranberry (Viburnum opulus var. americanum) and winterberry (Ilex verticillata). When first ripe the fruits on these bushes are not eaten by birds but after freezing and thawing some birds will eat them. Highbush cranberry and winterberry prefer rich moist soils and can be found naturally in wetlands. They will do well, though, in any good garden soil in full sun to part shade.

Wild sunflowers and weeds like pigweed are also food sources for migrating birds and I’ll be covering these in a future post.

SOURCES

Fruit Quality and Consumption by Songbirds During Autumnal Migration (Susan B. Smith, Kathleen H. McPherson, Jeffrey M. Backer, Barbara J. Pierce, David W. Podlesak, and Scott R. McWilliams). The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 119(3):419–428, 2007.

Viburnum tinus Fruits Use Lipids to Produce Metallic Blue Structural Color (Rox Middleton, Miranda Sinnott-Armstrong, Yu Ogawa,Gianni Jacucci, Edwige Moyroud, Paula J.Rudall, Chrissie Prychid, Maria Conejero, Beverley J.Glover, Michael J.Donoghue, Silvia Vignolini). Current Biology. Volume 30, Issue 19, 5 October 2020, Pages 3804-3810.e2

Fruit Coloration: Attractive, Fatty Blue Colours? (Bodo D. Wilt). Current Biology. Volume 30, Issue 19, PR1078-R1080, October 05, 2020.

Fatty Acid Composition of Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas L.) (Agata Antoniewska, Jan Brindza, Svitlana Klymenko, Olga Shelepova). 5th International Scientific Conference Agrobiodiversity for Improving the Nutrition, Health, Quality of Life and Spiritual Human Development, Nitra, Slovakia. November 2021.

A View from LeVeaux Mountain

LeVeaux Mountain is a part of the Sawtooth Mountains in northeastern Minnesota and located in Cook County. It rises about 1,586 feet above sea level and 986 feet above Lake Superior. On its south side it overlooks Lake Superior. On LeVeaux Mountain’s north are spectacular views of a forest including a stand of ancient sugar maple. To the east is the Onion River named after all the wild leeks that grow in the sugar maple forests. To the west are miles of thick forest and swamps.

**Part of the Superior Hiking Trail spur loop on LeVeaux Mountain.**

A section of the Superior Hiking Trail goes by LeVeaux Mountain with a small spur loop on the west side that makes accessing the mountain possible. Most of the land that includes the mountain is part of the Superior National Forest and so anyone can walk off the trail without violating private property laws. However, the terrain is rugged and steep cliffs and talus slopes ring much of the mountain making casual hiking dangerous. I don’t recommend it for people unfamiliar with hiking in roadless or trail-less places. You could get seriously hurt.

**Loose rocks, trees, and soil slowly slide down the north face of LeVeaux Mountain.**

I’ve hiked off trail on and around LeVeaux Mountain several times but I’ve gone prepared (including studying maps and aerial photos well beforehand) and dressed in suitable clothing not the shorts, t-shirts, and sneakers I often see on some day hikers using the trail. Such treks have been rewarding and physically challenging but that’s what I was seeking.

***The Onion River which flows along the eastern side of LeVeaux Mountain.***

Wild Cranberries

Just the thought of these tart red berries makes my mouth water. These are fruits of small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) and not to be confused with the ones in the grocery stores, which are cultivars of large cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon). Both species grow in wet habitats with deep peat soils. Vaccinium macrocarpon is only native to North America, but Vaccinium oxycoccos has a circumboreal distribution. Outside of North America, Vaccinium oxycoccos is cultivated to some extent.

I’ve found small cranberry in intermediate fens, poor fens, and raised bogs. They seem to fruit best in full sun. Sometimes they will make a few berries under the shade of tamaracks and black spruce. This group is growing in an open poor fen with lots of peat moss and cottongrass and no trees. There were thousands of berries to pick, but they were a little past their prime after a recent hard frost. I don’t know what wild animals and birds might feed on them. Perhaps ruffed grouse or bears do. I saw bear tracks in the fen and ruffed grouse along its edge in the low-growing shrubs, but no sign that the berries had been eaten.

Larch Bolete and Pine Bolete

**Suillus spectabilis** ***(larch bolete)*** ***and a bit worn from hungry mice.***

It’s fully autumn now and despite frosty nights and sometimes cooler days, this is a good time to hunt for mushrooms. At this time of the year, there are many interesting species popping up from the duff, through the moss, the sides of rotting logs, and even from fallen pine needles.

Boletes, a broad term for genera of pore fungi, have been sprouting in the woods these last few weeks. One afternoon in early October I came upon Suillus spectabilis, the larch bolete. It wasn’t a very handsome specimen, as some animal, perhaps a mouse or red squirrel, had taken some big chunks out of the cap. This reddish mushroom grows in conifer swamps where tamarack or larch (coniferous trees in the genus Larix) occur forming an ectomycorrhizal association. Two other Suillus (Suillus cavipes, Suillus grevillei) that also form ectomycorrhizal associations with Larix were noted in the area.

Suillus spectabilis stem — ***Suillus spectabilis pores***

Finding Suillus spectabilis helped to solve another Suillus identification problem. This other Suillus species was growing on some high ground near the edge of the tamarack swamp but also just a few yards away from a white pine the ectomycorrhizal associate another bolete: Suillus spraguei (syn. Suillus pictus). Given the close proximity to two possible symbionts, I wasn’t sure whether this mushroom was growing in association with pine roots or tamarack roots. Now that I had a new red Suillus for comparison, the differences were immediately obvious. I could now add the pine bolete or Suillus spraguei to the fungi checklist.

The differences between the two species, aside from the conifers they associate with, are seen in the cap, pores, and stem. For Suillus spectabilis (see here, here, and here), the cap is reddish with large pink scales; the pore surface is at first yellow, later turning brown; the margin of the cap’s underside is thin and the edge is not inrolled, and the stem is more or less equal in width from top to bottom, fibrillous and reddish.

Suillus spraguei (see here, here, and here) has a cap covered in red-brown scales; the underside is yellowish, later fading to brown; the cap margin is inrolled when young, and the stem may be a little wider at the base than at the top.

Boletes such as Suillus have undergone taxonomic revisions in recent decades clarifying genus and species delineations using molecular phylogeny. The genus is divided into three subgroups: Granulatus, Tomentosus, and Spectabilis. Subgroup Spectabilis includes Suillus spectabilis while subgroup Granulatus includes Suillus spraguei. Members of subgroup Spectabilis form ectomycorrhizal associations with Larix (larch, tamarack) and Pseudotusga (Douglas fir). Those in subgroup Granulatus form ectomycorrhizal associations with Pinus (pines) and one species is ectomycorrhizal with pines and Quercus (oaks). Ectomycorrhizal associations with Pinus in the subgroup Granulatus are further partitioned between two-needle and five-needle pines.

SOURCES CONSULTED:

Suillus spraguei

Mushroom Expert

The Bolete Filter

Boletales.com

Suillus spectabilis

Mushroom Expert

The Bolete Filter

Boletales.com

Suillus Taxonomy

Nhu H. Nguyen, Else C. Vellinga, Thomas D. Bruns, Peter G. Kennedy (2016). Phylogenetic assessment of global Suillus ITS sequences supports morphologically defined species and reveals synonymous and undescribed taxa. Mycologia, 108(6), 2016, pp. 1216–1228. DOI: 10.3852/16-106, 2016 by The Mycological Society of America, Lawrence, KS 66044-8897