Who knocked this staghorn sumac fruit onto the snow?
A feeding robin! Nearing the end of winter, fruit-eating birds are left with few options. Staghorn sumac fruit are almost bare seeds covered with a hairy fuzz and preserved by acid and dryness. Even though sumac doesn’t offer the same sugar, fats, and protein of fleshy fruits, its long branch-life makes it one of the only options to tide over robins, bluebirds, crows, as well as a variety of returning migrants until spring.
American robins are “partial” migrants. While some head south, others stay around and switch to a mostly frugivore diet. Current research reports that more robins are now sticking out the winter in the north. According to eBird’s map of American Robin distribution, in January robins are now in every U.S. state (except Hawaii) and in all of the southern provinces of Canada.