Bird Party at the Pagoda (Dogwood)

Greetings and salutations, my friends. I’m going back to late summer here for a super zoomed in post. When the berries on a Pagoda Dogwood in my yard ripened I had the great pleasure of watching at least a dozen birds of several species visit this native shrub for a feast. As a lover of native plants and birds I relished this pagoda party, and I thought you might enjoy a few photos of the festivities.

American Robins and other thrushes are serious frugivores (fruit eaters), so seeing a few Robing take more than their share of this bounty was no surprise.

The scarfing of berries happens so quickly, and often without a clear view, but I was glad to catch this Robin with berry in bill.

This juvenile Hermit Thrush would have been still getting used to feeding his or her self, which was temporarily quite easy in these bountiful branches.

Perhaps the same Hermit Thrush, or another juvenile. You can see that many of the red fruit-bearing stems had been picked clean at this point.

Black-capped Chickadees aren’t big fruit eaters, but they can be found wherever there’s action.

Tufted Titmice are larger cousins of Chickadees, with similar diets and habits.

This Titmouse found a nice caterpillar on the popular Pagoda Dogwood. While fruits are important foods for many birds, the greatest nutritional contribution of plants to birds is the caterpillars that feed on their leaves.

This female Yellow Warbler was a fun surprise as I had not seen this species in the yard before. She and her mate had likely finished raising this year’s young by now and she was enjoying the freedom to wander, and eat all the insects she caught herself.

I’ve seen Red-eyed Vireos hunting caterpillars on many occasions. This was my first time seeing them eat fruit, and by far my closest look at them foraging.

I had seen and heard this Red-eyed Vireo pair a lot at this point, but getting to photograph them together in this beautiful plant was a real treat.

That concludes this little reminiscence of late summer. How distant it seems already. I do have some current news to share though: my 2026 calendar is now available! If you’re interested you can find it at my store, https://gerald-lisi.squarespace.com/store-1?p

Thanks for your time and attention, folks! I hope you feel it was well spent.