Member Musings…

Let’s Go On A Poison Ivy Hike

By Alan Bruner Long-standing member of FTRSSP

   The arrival of fall leads me to the roads, campgrounds, and service roads along the southern portions of Shades St. Park. The draw being the many migrant and resident birds attracted to the wood-edge habitat, brush, and tangles harboring the insects and fruits that provide the energy needed for a long journey south or the coming harsh winter season.

    More specifically, from September through November I search out the tangles of vines growing up the trunks of trees and spreading through the canopies. These tangles are produced primarily by Virginia Creeper, Wild Grape, and Poison Ivy which are loaded with berries. Insects are attracted to the fruit which subsequently attracts insect-eating birds.  This includes eight species of flycatchers, six species of vireos, more than twenty of the thirty-six species of warblers that pass through each year and many other bird species.

The fruits are important food sources for birds and animals during migration and deep into winter.  And yes, this includes Poison Ivy berries!  This plant is the bane of the homeowner and gardener due to the irritating and often painful rash that it can produce on contact with its leaves and stems.  We are all too well aware of this!  But were you aware that it is not toxic to most birds and animals and is one of the most valuable fall and winter wildlife foods.

  All seven of our annually occurring woodpeckers, including the large Pileated Woodpecker, can be seen picking off and swallowing the berries while they hang precariously upside down.  A partial list of birds utilizing Poison Ivy include Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Swainson’s Thrush, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Northern Mockingbird, Cedar Waxwing, White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, and Northern Cardinal.

   To find a number of birds that are uncommon to rare in the parks in winter, one needs to check out the Poison Ivy tangles.  If few berries are produced, these birds are virtually impossible to find or absent altogether. The more productive the berry crop, the more likely you are to find them.  This is especially true for Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Hermit Thrush, and Yellow-Rumped Warbler.

   If you want to go where the best overall birding is in the parks now and this winter, walk along the county road bordering the south edge of Shades St. Park or through the youth campground, the road to the main campground, or the entrance road.  And look for the poison ivy, not to avoid it, but to seek out the birds that depend on it.

  I would be glad to show you!

Poison Ivy