“The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.”
- Robert Louis Stevenson
The fruits on this Amelanchier have been targeted mostly by American Robins, squirrels, chipmunks and a smaller number of Cardinals. It is interesting to contrast the fruit eating style of the two bird species. Robins crash into the tree, grasp as many fruits* as are within easy reach and gulp them down whole before departing. Cardinal on the other hand are rather more deliberate in that they tend to arrive with less fuss and then look around before targeting a specific fruit. Having picked the fruit* they manipulate it in their beaks by flicks and pressure of their tongues so that they can isolate and swallow the individual seeds while discarding the flesh which does not appear to be of much nutritional interest at all.
Although regularly referred to as berries, the fruits of the Amelanchier are in fact ‘pomes’. Botanically, a pome is a type of fruit produced by flowering plants in the subtribe Malinae of the family Rosaceae and consisting of a central "core" containing multiple small seeds, enveloped by a tough membrane and surrounded by an edible layer of flesh. By contrast a berry is fruit derived from a single ovary and having the whole wall fleshy, such as a grape or tomato. Now you know 😉
I’ve never had cardinals eat fruit at our feeding stations. Obviously I’m offering a substandard meal. 😆