Today was another lovely day and I took a walk through the Arboretum. There is one large multi-stemmed Aralia spinosa shrub growing there. The stems are armoured with huge and fierce thorns from top to bottom (one of its common names is the Devil's Walkingstick!), and in fall the shrub produces enormous clusters of small purple berries. I have always wondered if anything ate them. Today I had my answer. The shrub was alive with flocks of cedar waxwings, robins, several hermit thrushes and many yellow-rumped warblers as shown here, all feasting on the juicy fruit! this is a shrub native to eastern NA.

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