My neighbour's mountain ash tree produced an excellent crop of bright reddish-orange berries this year. I took a picture of it in full glory on August 30 (left; click to see larger image), and then watched over the next six days while the robins stripped it bare (September 4, right).
I was reading in bed and watched one poor bird. He seemed to be falling asleep -- first his head tilted to one side, then his right wing flopped. When some other robins flew into the tree he woke up a bit and gobbled a few more berries; then he fell asleep again with his head tilted to the side. It was like watching a drunk on the subway! It seems like there are a lot of ash berries this year. I wonder if that means the winter will be cold?
