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Berries and Birds

Fall is in the air. The leaves are just beginning to change color and the bittersweet berries are turning from green to yellow.  Soon they’ll burst out of their golden pods and the bright reddish orange berries will be very eye catching, attracting some hungry birds as well as some humans who don’t realize how dangerous those little colorful berries from the choking vines can be to the environment.

Not only do the bittersweet vines kill trees, but they also displace native plants and ground covers that are much more nutritious for birds. By removing the many bittersweet vines during our Work Day at Riverfront Park we’ll be allowing the native plants to begin regrowth.  One of the park’s native plants is Elderberry. Another is Chokeberry. Both have lots of antioxidants and are very nutritious for our avian friends.

 

If you have not yet signed up for the Work Day please go to gpipworkday.blogspot.com and pre-register. The event will be on September 28, 2013 at Riverfront Park.

Do birds need to depend on bittersweet berries as a food source?  Usually not unless it’s an extraordinarily cold winter and the birds can’t find other more nutritious berries to eat. Most birds instinctively look for berries that are high in fat content as well as antioxidants. Bayberry is one of their favorites; it’s like the Big Mac of plants with 50% fat. Bittersweet berries have very little fat and practically no antioxidants.

Also, bittersweet berries are solid and not easy for birds to digest. In fact most of the bittersweet berry is still intact when it’s excreted from a bird so it re-sprouts elsewhere in the spring.  Sadly for the native birds, when it’s very cold they don’t want to expend a lot of energy foraging for food. So, if they see that bright red berry they’ll eat it but it’s like us eating a stick of celery. It doesn’t go far to keep them warm. 

It now appears that more and more song birds that rely on berries and bugs are staying north for the winter. Since most do not frequent bird feeders, such as the robin, mocking bird, catbird and bluebird, they constantly search for berries so you might see them eating the bittersweet berries in desperation. 

 

If it were not for the bittersweet invasion birds would have a far greater variety of much more nutritious food so get rid of the bittersweet and grow plants such as bayberry, elderberry, chokeberry, high bush blueberry, dogwood, winterberry, viburnum and many others (see link on "Other Resouces" page)..

 

Interestingly, the 2 most common birds to eat the invasive bittersweet berries are the European Starling and the English House Sparrow. Both are invasive birds eating invasive berries!

Thanks to bird lover Ann P for authoring this excellent post!

Oriental bittersweet berries are a last resort for bluebirds and other winter song birds
since the berries have very little nutritional value.

Reality Check: Help Needed!

The Glastonbury Partners in Planting "Battling Bittersweet" Group consists of about a dozen volunteers who form the steering committee, and another ten faithful volunteers who have said they'll help as needed. That's it. Glastonbury is a town of about 35,000 people in a 52 square mile area that has a significant oriental bittersweet problem. We are geographically one of the largest towns in the state.

When you do the math it is quickly apparent that even with support from Town authorities we are overwhelmingly outpaced by the growing problem with invasives, especially oriental bittersweet. Continuing at the current number of active volunteers against a rapidly increasing problem will not result in a noticeable difference in terms of reducing damage to trees and beneficial plants.

Our volunteers are happy to do what we can so this isn't a complaint. It's more of a word of caution and warning. More help is needed. This blog outlines some of the ways that could happen.

Somehow there needs to be an effective wake-up call that can rally more support, if enough people in town really want to make a difference. That "want" must translate into many more people taking action.

GPIP advocates a community-wide effort, bringing together interested people and organizations, working to educate residents, and inspiring far more citizens to volunteer to help. More people, better organized.

If you want to help go to www.gpip.org If you want to volunteer for our Work Day on 9/28/13 go to http://gpipworkday.blogspot.com/  If you know influential people in town, ask them how they are helping solve the problem.

If you are reading this blog THANK YOU. It means you care enough to take the time to learn about this problem. If you have not already, please get involved in the solution.

Oriental Bittersweet Berry Ripening Accelerated After Vine Cutting?

A recent (8/14/13) visit to the Riverfront Park Work Day site revealed a remarkable contrast between oriental berry development on vines that were cut a week ago to create site access paths and vines that have not been cut yet.

Berries on uncut vines are slowly turning from a bright lime green to a "pea soup" green as the slow ripening process occurs. The berries will show much greater ripening and color change in September as fall approaches.

But berries on cut vines have quickly ripened, with the shells already opened to reveal bright orange berries!


Above: Accelerated ripening of berries a week after vine cutting. GPIP photo taken 8/14/13.

This observation reinforces the need to try to cut vines by mid-July before the berries are capable of ripening, dropping and becoming seedlings in the spring. It also underscores the need for careful vine disposal if mature vines bearing seeds are cut later in the summer because even if the seeds are green when the vine is cut, they can quickly ripen and re-infest the site or the disposal location.

OMG! Monster Grapevine/Bittersweet Hybrid Discovered?

Is this the new Frankenvine? Have workers at the new boat ramp construction site unwittingly uncovered a prehistoric monster-vine? Or are we just suffering from vine paranoia? YOU be the judge!

Above: Bizarre hybrid vine discovered at Riverfront Park.
After inspecting the vine closely local botanist Itsa Mooringcable, PhD, said,
"I'm totally stumped but one thing is for sure, it is what it is."

What Are Other Communities Doing?

We are not alone................

As GPIP researches ways to wage the oriental bittersweet war and stop tree damage in Glastonbury we have contacted, and been contacted by representatives of other like-minded groups in other communities faced with the same problem.

The good news is that an increasing number of communities are discussing the problem. Some are actively attacking it. The bad news? We are among a very small minority. Most towns are doing little to nothing. That will change; there is little choice but to act, or face massive tree and native vegetation loss in the years ahead.

Here are a few links (click on the town name) to other communities and what they're doing:

Asheville, NC: Asheville Greenworks is one of the best role models in the country, with a very active and enthusiastic community base that has joined together to battle invasive plants.

Aspetuck Land Trust : Land trust organization focusing on Easton, Weston, Westport, Fairfield, CT.

Denville, NJ: The Protect Our Wetlands, Water and Woods is a large, active volunteer organization that sponsors community-wide action.

Litchfield County, CT: The Mad Gardeners organization is a major driver of invasive control projects in Litchfield County.

Mansfield, CT: The Mansfield Parks and Recreation Department oversees the "Friends of Mansfield Parks," an organization that empowers and educates individuals and organizations to preserve, restore, and protect native plant and animal communities of Mansfield; to promote quality stewardship, and to inspire people to act with conservation values and environmental ethics. The Natural Areas Volunteers (NAV) is Mansfield's volunteer corps that includes stewards, co-stewards, workday volunteers, and wildlife monitors. These volunteers help to restore and maintain Mansfield's parks/preserves.

Plainville, CT: Looking for volunteers to help clear bittersweet and other invasives.

Norfolk, CT: We have established an informal information-sharing effort with the Conservation Commission in Norfolk. Take a look at their web site and their very innovative "Invasive Plant Exchange" program, where residents can pull up and swap certain invasive plants for more beneficial native plants.

Southington, CT: Town walking tour to come up with a plan to tackle invasive plants on town land.

"Landscape Restoration" Glastonbury Style

The Society of Ecological Restoration defines "landscape restoration" as, "assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or destroyed." In a global context this can include massive projects such as rainforest restoration and reclamation of large mining sites.

Here in Glastonbury our landscape restoration needs are a bit different! The most widespread and challenging landscape damage is done by invasive plants, with oriental bittersweet being the chief culprit causing extensive tree damage all over town. Loss of trees and loss of light caused by blankets of smothering vines and foliage has degraded, damaged or destroyed the native ecosystem in many infested areas of town.

So "landscape restoration Glastonbury style" consists of identifying plants that are damaging the landscape, properly removing and disposing of them, following up by restoring a more beneficial landscape, and preventing the regrowth of damaging species.

A growing trend in communities facing this challenge is that landscape services and arborists are beginning to offer professional "landscape restoration" services in addition to the usual mowing, edging, tree work, and so on. This is typically offered as a specific add-on service that will prevent or identify and remove invasive plants on a given property.

This trend has yet to emerge in Glastonbury but the need is certainly here, the demand will grow, and the smart companies will educate themselves and take the lead. That may sound overly optimistic but is there anybody who thinks we are not in dire need of more professionals who are qualified and marketing services in this area?

The big question is, "How does the property owner know the service provider is qualified?" Most property owners know very little about invasive plants and are unable to identify them, so they don't even know there is a problem until they see the vines growing up into their trees.

To help customers identify a qualified "landscape restoration" service provider some towns and states have created training and certification programs to educate companies offering landscape restoration services in the necessary plant identification information, legal requirements, removal and disposal procedures, and steps to take after initial removal.

One of the GPIP "Battling Bittersweet" Group's winter activities will be to work with local landscapers, state experts and others to create educational resources and if at all possible, a certification program.

Much of Glastonbury's 52 square miles is managed by landscape companies at the direction of home and landowners. For that reason we are convinced that a big part of controlling landscape damage depends on creating a new partnership between landowners and service providers that will focus on better prevention, identification and control of invasives as well as keeping the grass green and shrubs trimmed.

Landscape companies and arborists interested in helping develop an invasive plant management training and/or certification program are invited to contact Glastonbury Partners in Planting via e-mail at information@gpip.org