Many trees and shrubs are heavy with fruit now and attracting dozens of birds. This mountain ash was swarmed by cedar waxwings, house finches, gray catbirds, robins, chickadees, and Baltimore orioles. Some, like the chickadees, would be seeking insects amongst the fruit (and there are many insects in these clusters), but most would be eating the fruit. Canada elderberry shrubs are bending low under their fruity load and are also a mecca for birds. It is quite a heady time for birds and animals right now with summer's bounty at its peak.

While trying to photograph some sawfly larvae, I heard what sounded like a bunch of vandals thrashing the nearby shrubs and trees. I ignored it for awhile, but eventually went over to see who was making all this noise. I thought it might be squirrels, but the volume of noise increased so much that I began to doubt this. But sure enough, there they were, up high in an oak tree throwing down one acorn after another, sometimes cutting off branches laden with nuts and hurling them down to the shrubs below.