Bumper Crop of Mountain Ash Berries

[Kevin Rooney]

Just got back from a visit to New England and managed to climb a few peaks in the Whites. I was struck by the bumper crop of Mountain Ash berries - the trees are just loaded with them. I believe they run in cycles, and maybe the extra wet spring and summer had something to do with it. It means they will probably be more birds wintering over, like robbins. I remember that last time this happened (about 5 years ago) seeing a large flock of robbins near the slide on Owls Head on a subzero day, and a similar situation on the shoulder of Tecumseh.

Also saw large areas of blight. One of the people I hiked with knows the NH state forester. We noticed a large swatch of white birches located in the cirque east of the Baldfaces had dropped their leaves. According to him, this was insect damage and coupled with ice storm damage from several years ago would cause many birches to die. Apparently this die-off cycle happens about every 15-20 years. We saw other large swaths of trees, mainly hardwoods like maples, where the leaves have fallen early, and he said that was due to all the rain the leaves were attacked by a fungus which would not cause the tree longterm harm.

Managed to do some peaks/trails I'd never done before, like the Baldfaces and also the Boott Spur Link trail which leads from USFS Ranger Station (HoJo's) up the ridge. A fun scramble, but would not want to descend it. Ran into a little snow that day, now mostly hiding in the cracks and crevasses of rocks from a dusting/riming of a few days earlier.

 

[Snowflea]

Are mountain ash berries the dark red ones that grow in bunches? (I'm a little botanically challenged.) I noticed oodles of them in the Franconia Notch area this fall...

 

[SAR-EMT40]

It funny you mention that Kevin. It have also noticed what seems to me to be a lot more of them and in a lot more places this year also.

They are the ones with the bright orange clusters of berries.

I was just wondering if weather conditions this year made for more berries or if indeed there are more of them. We have lots of shagbark hickories at my house and we sometimes have huge nut yields, other years very few and I am pretty sure that it related to the weather. It takes a lot out of a plant to flower or give seeds. And its survival comes first so there isn't enought goodies (sun, water, nutrients) around to feed the plant it will only do what it needs to stay healthy. If on the other hand there is an abundance of the goodies they will seed and fruit.

Just my guess. I am sure we have someone on the board that can speak with more authority.

Keith

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Are mountain ash berries the dark red ones that grow in bunches? (I'm a little botanically challenged.) I noticed oodles of them in the Franconia Notch area this fall...

Sue - yes, red berries in bunches. Took a photo of some with the big cascade on Falling Waters in the background.

Am botanically challenged challenged as well. Lots of stuff get the labeled LPJ's (Little Pink Jobbers) by me.

 

[Doc McPeak]

Tons in the ADKS as well.

When in Maine I was talking with a bear hunter about the bumper crop of food (berries, nuts, acorns, etc.) and he and other hunters were having trouble getting bears interested in their donut and twinkie stashes. The bears are able to eat at much lower elevations this year and are very healthy. This food glut will apparantly produce many twin and triplet births from the bear population, so next year there could be a lot of cubs in the woods. I never know that female bears will birth twins and triplets versus singles depending on the amount of food available the previous year. Pretty cool stuff.

And the clusters do really add to the fall picture taking.

 

[SAR-EMT40]

WOW! I just was up at Wildcat mtn. Took a gondola ride up to the peak with my wife and mother in law. Could not believe the color of the mountain ash berries and the numbers of them up here. At home they are a bright orange. Here they are all bright red like everyone is saying. Really wierd and there lots and lots.

Keith

 

[Kevin Rooney]

WOW! I just was up at Wildcat mtn. Took a gondola ride up to the peak with my wife and mother in law. Could not believe the color of the mountain ash berries and the numbers of them up here. At home they are a bright orange. Here they are all bright red like everyone is saying. Really wierd and there lots and lots.

Keith

Yup, it's really a bumper crop. Beautiful berries. Tried to transplant a tree many years ago when we lived in VT - no luck. Don't think I lived high enough (1100'). Well, maybe high, but not in terms of elevation.

 

[bigmoose]

Ditto the abundance of berry clusters in the Adirondacks. The bright color jazzed up pictures taken on the Jay ridge and on the flanks of Sawtooth 3. It's nice to have color to play with in the midst of scrawny, drab, spindly spruce.

 

[Whiteman]

Check out the Spruce cones too

I'm sure the weather must have been just right for a number of plants. I am surprised by the number of cones on many of the trees up high.

And is it related? I hadn't seen praying mantises for years and years, and now I've just seen a couple (one hopelessly out of place, flying around Gillette Stadium during a game).

 

[Doodles]

I just came back from a week on the AT down in the Smokies. The Mountain Ash down there were loaded with berries. The bright red berries against the blue sky are quite a spectacular sight.

 

[Cath]

Sorbus americana

The American Mountainash has gorgeous fall foliage too, orange-yellow to reddish-purple. If it is growing in a wet area, it can get about 30' tall, but in a drier setting it will remain stunted. It is reported that the National Champion is 62' x 40' in West Virginia State Park. Imagine the berry clusters on that baby Michael Dir records it as a northern tree, with a range from Newfoundland to Manitoba, south to Michigan, and North Carolina along the Appalachian mountains.

Kevin ~ Did you notice any of the Jack in the Pulpit red seed clusters too

 

[Jazzbo]

Mountain Ash Berries have been dropping

I've been noticing the birght red berries this fall. I was out yesterday and noticed they are starting to fall off. Maybe this was triggered by recent frosts? Here's a picture I took of one I found on the Jewell Trail.

Mt Ash Berries

 

[BorealChickadee]

Falling mountain ash berries.

There was a section on the path out to Couchie Sept 10th where the mountain ash berries were all over the trail.

 

[Doc McPeak]

The berries have been "falling" for weeks now. I believe the ones that are down were taken down by birds or the like. If you look closely at Jazzbo's pic you'll see the branch has been broken off. They blue jays like to "attack" our backyard bird feeders, which are too small for them to land on, by smashing into them, thereby knocking the birdseed to the ground where they descend and gobble it up. Fly back up and crash into the feeder and scoop up the seeds below again. I bet it's a similar thing. Bird snaps the berry branch off, knocking it to the ground, where it is much easier for him to gobble them up.

Here's some info on the species: http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/trees/sorbusam.html

Hmm, anyone up for some Mountain Ash wine?

 

[dms]

Mountain ash berries are a favorite food of cedar wax wings. We saw several enjoying the bumper crop on Big Squaw yesterday.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

And don't overlook the obvious - those bunches are HEAVY! Don't take much for a branch to break off and drop an entire bunch.

 

[Waumbek]

That bumper crop extends way east into the Maritimes, too.

 

[Jazzbo]

I recall one winter day hiking to top of 478' high Prospect Hill in my town Waltham MA. We were in middle of a protracted cold snap with fresh 18" of snow and temps below zero and windy. I went there bundled to the hilt to enjoy the view of Boston in cold crisp air, but was surprised to observe a dozen ceder wax wings perched in small shrubby summit tree feasting on berries not unlike these. These berries weren't red, but they were in little clusters. I've never seen cedar wax wings in Waltham before or since this time. I suppose in spite of all the berries falling, enough of the mountain ash berries remain in the trees to provide food for the winter birds.

Really frigid weather brings on strange animal behaviors. Once during similar cold snap we observed two red foxes traips across our back yard in Waltham inside of Rt 128. I've never seen a fox before or after this in our town let alone our backyard. I expect they normally stay in the park, but had ventured out in search of better pickings in the human's habitations.

 

[MattC]

Those berries are a pretty sight aren't they? Lots up on the Brothers and Big Slide yesterday. No bird sightings, since we had a big, noisy crew up there. Nice to look at though, both on the tree and fallen on the trail.

Lots in the Catskills too. There's quite a bit on Rusk, and I though I saw my first Cedar Waxwing up there two weeks ago, but I wasn't quite sure, since I didn't get a great look. Now I'm more confident that it was, knowing that Ash berries are one of their favorites. I still won't mark CW off my bird list though, since I'm not absolutely positive. Not that I care about ridiculous things like lists.

Do Chikadees like the berries? I saw lots of 'em on West Kill on that same weekend and assumed they were after the Ash.

Matt