A casual walk around the neighbourhood today revealed many berries vying for the attention of animals. While these berries help sustain the birds and mammals through the winter, from the perspective of the plant, the animals are merely devices for distributing their seeds widely. Here are six I saw.
Elderberry
Mountain ash
Snowberry
Red-osier dogwood
Climbing nightshade (also known as poisonberry)
Rose hips (wild rose)
The only creature I’ve seen eating elderberries beside people are ravens. The somehow pull a cluster off in flight, and eat it when it falls to the ground.
Eric, then we can add ravens to the list of robins and pileated woodpeckers I have watched (and photographed) eating them.
Ruffed Grouse, heavy and awkward swinging crazily in the weak elderberry bush/trees, also commonly eat elderberries in late fall doing the final gleaning long after the crows.