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Amsonia pollinators, bird notes, 4/20/03--Durham NC



I have a nice bunch of blooming Blue Star, Amsonia tabernaemontana
(Apocynaceae, also called Blue Dogbane) in my garden here in Durham. I've
been testing a digital camera on the flowers, so have paid some attention to
insects and other critters visiting it. These have included:
1-ants
2-small black bee/wasp (looks like a bee to me)
3-Snowberry Clearwing moth (Hemaris diffinis)
4-Ruby-throated Hummingbird--visited briefly, seemed to get some nectar as
it buzzed from flower to flower

#4 was quite a surprise. The flower is a light blue, not generally
considered attractive to hummingbirds. (I read in a reference on flower
pollination that red was mostly attractive to hummingbirds because insects
are NOT attracted to it.)

The ant didn't have much luck getting into the flower very far. Looking at
the digital photos, I noticed that the entrance to the corolla is guarded
with a ring of stiff hairs. Perhaps this serves to keep ants out? The moth
inserted its proboscis, and the hummingbird its beak, quite easily.

Nice to know that this attractive and easily cultivated native plant is a
good animal attractor too.

In other Triangle nature notes:
A female cardinal nesting outside my office at home is sitting tightly,
presumably incubating.

White-breasted nuthatches were feeding noisy nestlings today (4/20/03) in a
nest box in the Macedonia area (near Cary) of Wake County. This seems early
to me.

I heard House Wrens here in Durham and in Wake County as well. I think these
are the first I have heard this spring. One in Wake County was busy fiddling
with nest material in a box, luckily not close to the Nuthatches. (I
understand they frequently kill other cavity-nesters.)

Patrick Coin
Durham, NC
patrick@coinconsult.net