[tn-bird] tupelos and thrushes



I think I have a new favorite tree:  the Black Tupelo.

There are four or five of these trees in our yard.  I had no
idea what they were when I moved in last January.  When they
started leaving out, I thought they might be some kind of
magnolia or bay but then they bloomed and that ruled that out.
Finally, when the berries set on, I was able to figure it out.

Tupelos are related to dogwoods and have blackish berries that
get ripe in the fall.  The ones in our yard are about 30-50 ft
tall.  I had never heard of Black Tupelo but I just found out
that they have another name that I did know about: Black Gum.
The leaves turn a gorgeous scarlet color in fall.  Some of ours
have already turned; can't wait to see the whole lot of them
like that.

The first critters to start eating the berries were the squirrels.
They showed up just as the berries started to get ripe and I
thought they were going to strip the trees bare.  Fortunately,
the trees are completely loaded with berries and the squirrels
barely put a dent in them before the birds showed up.

Yesterday (22 Sept 2002), I had five species of thrush eating the
berries including Eastern Bluebird (~20), American Robin (~10),
Swainson's Thrush (~12), Gray-cheeked Thrush (1), and Wood Thrush
(1).  The Gray-cheeked was nice enough to allow for some photographs
to rule out Bicknell's and confirm his place as yardbird #97.
Today, the Swainson's Thrushes were up 20 or so.  Unfortunately,
the starlings have also finally found the trees.  Other birds
that we've seen eating the berries in the past couple of weeks
include Scarlet and Summer Tanager, Red-eyed Vireo and Yellow-
shafted Northern Flicker.


Dean Edwards
Knoxville, TN



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