American Holly Tree Offers More Than Shade

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - If you have a female American holly tree in your yard that gets loaded with berries, you've probably experienced the happy day when the birds come to gobble them up. It's usually robins in my neighborhood and they show up as early as December, although this year, it was February.

The birds arrive in great numbers - probably only hundreds, although it seems like thousands. It'€™s like a tamer re-creation of a Hitchcock scene and you can watch them swoop and swipe berries all day long, hour after hour until the tree is bare of berries.

Although they fly away when you first approach, if you wait quietly, the birds return to continue consuming berries as fast as they can open their beaks and choke them back. This year, I stood still long enough to get some good pictures as you see here.

If you don'€™t have an American holly tree near you, consider planting one, for their stately shape, cooling shade, boughs of holiday berries, and the annual entertainment of the feasting flocks.