The lower-than-usual rainfall combined with higher-than-usual temperatures during the growing season in 2022 greatly reduced fruit production at Salter Grove to a level not seen in many years. It was alarming because many insectivorous birds and their fledglings include large amounts of fruits in their diet after at the end of the breeding season. 

However, the bumper crop of juicy and plump berries this year should convince fruit-eating birds that Salter Grove is a great place to raise their families!

Just two weeks ago, a Baltimore Oriole was already pokoing through ground vegetation to get at fruits of twice-leaved blackberry that creep through low vegetation. 

Soon, the hedges of leafy-flowered blackberry, and wine raspberry that line the lawn south of the parking lot will be filled with ripe fruits. 

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