Nemesis Birds

 

Bahama Mockingbird (Mimus grundlachii).
Jetty Park,  Port Canaveral, Florida.  

The nemesis bird is an idea going around the birding community.  It is a bird that someone seeks but cannot find.  There are many definitions for a nemesis bird but for me it is one I have tried to find several times but has eluded me.  

Bahama Mockingbird.
Jetty Park, Port Canaveral, Florida. 

The Bahama Mockingbird (Mimus grundlachii) is, of course a native to the Bahamas and a few other spots in the northern West Indies.  Every few years a Bahama Mockingbird makes its way to Florida and birders flock to see it. If I happened to be in the area when one shows up, I would go looking too. In May 2018 I made three attempts to find the Bahama Mockingbird in Palm Beach County without success.  Then in April 2021 another was in Palm Beach County. Diane and I tried for this one too, and missed.  Finally, in April 2023 we tracked down the elusive Bahama Mockingbird in the campground of Jetty Park at Port Canaveral.  It was singing and fighting with the local Northern Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) between the motor homes and giant cruise ships.  

I have not been as lucky with other nemesis birds.  We have made two trips to southeastern Arizona and saw many birds that are characteristic of that area like Elegant Trogons (Trogon elegans), Mexican Chickadees (Poecile sclateri), Rivoli’s Hummingbirds (Eugenes fulgens) and Elf Owls (Micrathene whitneyi).  But one bird has eluded us there, the Montezuma Quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae).  Montezuma Quail are found along the southern US border in the deserts of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas and down into Mexico.  Montezuma Quail are small, round, ground dwelling birds. Females are mottled brown, but the males have a dark brown belly, black and white sides and a boldly patterned face. On our trips to Arizona, we were constantly running into people who had just seen Montezuma Quail on the trail or crossing the road 10 minutes before we arrived.  The Montezuma Quail is still a nemesis.

Montezuma Quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae).
Painting by Louis Agassiz Fuertes. 1928.
 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyrtonyx_montezumaeEBP20A.jpg

California Condors (Gymnogyps californianus) are critically endangered birds that were on the brink of extinction in the 1980s.   These giant vultures once fed on the carcasses of mastodons and mammoths and ranged across much of North America. Extinction of the giant mammals reduced the California Condor's population and range, but when Lewis and Clark reached the mouth of the Columbia River in 1805, they found   Condors living there.  The population of the California Condors continued to decline in the 20^th century due to agricultural pesticide use and lead poisoning until only 27 birds survived.  These last holdouts of the ice age were captured and used to begin a captive breeding program.  Young California Condors from the program were raised and released into the wild over the decades. Now a population of over 500 birds live in California, Arizona and Utah.     

California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus).
Painting by Fredrick Polydore Nodder, 1797.
https://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/
File:The_Naturalist%27s_Miscellany_Vol_9_Pl_301_California_condor.jpg 

We have made two valiant attempts to see these free-flying California Condors.  In June 2013 we went to Big Sur in California where we scanned the cliffs and watched the skies, to no avail.  A park ranger told us he saw one driving to work that morning, but we struck out.  In August 2021 we sought the Condors in Northern Arizona, at Marble Canyon and the Vermillion Cliffs.  Again, no luck.  A Navajo lady working at the Marble Canyon Lodge told us she had not seen the Condors for a couple of weeks. She said we should come back in the breeding season.  Nemesis.    

Harris’s Sparrows (Zonotrichia querula) are neither critically endangered nor even rare.  We just don’t spend time where they live.  Harris’s Sparrows breed in the boreal forests of northern Canada and winter on the Great Plains.  In January 2023 a stray Harris’s Sparrow was hanging around Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Diane and I were in the area with a group of birders to experience the giant flocks of Snow Geese (Anser caerulescens) along the Rio Grande.  Our group made two visits to the location where the Harris’s Sparrow was seen, but we had no luck.  Then in the winter of 2024 a Harris’s Sparrow was reported in our own state.  It was on the campus of Warren Wilson College just east of Asheville, North Carolina. This unique college has a farm adjacent to the campus and students work the farm, raising row crops, sheep, cattle and pigs.  

The farm at Warren Wilson College.
Swannanoa, North Carolina. 

Pigs in their pen. 
Warren Wilson College.
Swannanoa, North Carolina. 

A curious pig.
Warren Wilson College.
Swannanoa, North Carolina.  

On my first trip for the Harris’s Sparrow in North Carolina, it was the familiar routine.  People had just seen the Harris’s Sparrow. "It was on the other side of the pond".  "In that patch of blackberries". "Down by the pig pen".  It was there, but I could not find it.  I was discouraged.  The sparrow was so close, I missed it in New Mexico and now in North Carolina.  It was a nemesis.  The Harris’s Sparrow was still being reported the next week so Diane and I went back.  We met a couple of birders from South Carolina who had been there a while but had not seen the sparrow.  After we had searched for a couple of hours Diane cried, “There it is”. And there it was, down in the pen, eating swine feed.  It was a large sparrow, with a brown head, pink beak, a white throat and breast and a black bib. It was an immature bird, over a thousand miles from where it should be. 

Harris's Sparrow (Zonotrichia querula) feeding in a pig pen.
Warren Wilson College.
Swannanoa, North Carolina. 

Harris's Sparrow.
Warren Wilson College.
Swannanoa, North Carolina. 

Diane went to tell the South Carolina birders she had found the sparrow.  While she was gone, our target flew into a tangle of briars.  The South Carolinians hustled over, and the four of us peered into the blackberry canes looking for the Harris’s Sparrow.  Then the sparrow flew up into a sapling.  It sat on the bare branches for several minutes, giving all a good look and a terrific photo op.  Harris’s Sparrow, nemesis no more.  

 

Pill Bugs

 

 Pill Bug (Armadillidium vulgare).
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Pill Bugs are not really bugs; they are not even insects.  They are actually terrestrial Crustaceans and like their better-known relatives, lobsters and crabs, they have gills.  Pill Bugs must keep their gills moist to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide.  Because of this requirement these interesting little animals are restricted to humid environments.  Gills tell a story about the evolutionary history of Pill Bugs. Their ancestors lived in ancient oceans before the time of the dinosaurs and crawled onto land 300 million years ago to eventually become our present-day Pill Bugs.  Pill Bugs are detritivores, and live in the upper layers of the soil.  They consume dead plant material and the microscopic decomposers found on the rotting vegetation.  

Pill Bug rolled up in protective posture.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Pill Bugs are known by a number of common names including Roly-polys, Armadillo Bugs and Woodlice. The name woodlouse comes because they are often found under rotting logs.  The names Armadillo Bug and Roly-poly refer to the Pill Bug habit of rolling into a ball as a protective behavior.  When they are rolled up, Pill Bugs resemble pills giving rise to that common name.

 

Video of Pill Bug crawling.

Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Whether they are called Woodlice, Armadillo Bugs, Roly-polys or Pill Bugs these creatures are classified in the Order Isopoda. The name Isopoda comes from the Greek meaning “same feet” because each of their seven sets of legs are the same size.  Contrast this with crabs (Order Decapoda) that have legs of vastly different sizes, some specialized for feeding (claws), some for walking and some for swimming (swimmerets). The most common Pill Bug in our area is Armadillidium vulgare.  This native of Europe has spread around the world with humans and is found in temperate regions of six continents.  

A group of Pill Bugs in soil. 
Many different sizes and colors are present. 
Rowan County, North Carolina.

Adult Pill Bugs are about ¾ inch long and dark brown or gray in color with a segmented exoskeleton that covers their upper surface. They have a two compound eyes and a pair of antennae on the head.  Each of the seven main body segments has two legs.  Pill Bugs take about a year to mature and must molt their exoskeleton to grow to a larger size.  After molting Pill Bugs are lighter in color but darken up quickly. It is common to find a wide range of Pill Bug sizes because they are always growing through their different stages.   

Pill Bug on a leaf.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Pill Bugs do not bite or sting nor do they transmit human diseases.  Because of their benign nature and their downright cuteness, Pill Bugs are kept as pets by people around the world.  If you want to see some pill bugs, look under logs or rocks.  All the Pill Bugs photographed for this blog were sleeping under a flowerpot on our porch.  Take a look, and you will find these fascinating creatures quietly living their lives.

 

Clockwise Vines, Counterclockwise Vines

 

Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) flowers.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Charles Darwin was fascinated by the growth of vines.  In 1865 he published his research in a book called On the Movement and Habits of Climbing Plants.  Among the many topics Darwin addressed was twining, how vines wrap around a support or each other to climb. He reviewed a well know observation that for a given species, the vine twines in only one direction, either clockwise or counterclockwise.   

 About 90% of twining vines grow counterclockwise but a significant minority go the other way.  A few plants can twine in either direction.  The reason for this interesting observation has been a topic of debate and research for centuries.  Many explanations have been proposed, including the movement of the sun across the sky and the Coriolis effect.  The latter is caused by the rotation of the Earth and causes hurricanes to spin counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern.  Neither of these ideas is correct. It turns out that the twining direction of plants is genetically determined.

There are about 180 species of honeysuckles (Lonicera  sp.) and they are native to North America, Europe and Asia. All honeysuckles twine clockwise, that is, when you look at a honeysuckle vine it grows up from right to left, spiraling clockwise up its support. Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is a native of eastern North America.  With its opposite leaves and pink, tubular flowers, this striking vine is a magnet for pollinating insects and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris).  All this pollination leads to large red fruits of Coral Honeysuckle that are a prized food for birds. 

Coral Honeysuckle flowers.
Rowan County, North Carolina.

Coral Honeysuckle Fruits.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Coral Honeysuckle vines twining clockwise.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens), is a vine found in the southern United States and down into Mexico and Central America. It has glossy evergreen leaves and brilliant yellow tubular flowers. Carolina Jessamine twines in a counterclockwise direction when growing up trees in a forest or on an arbor in a garden.  This beautiful vine has a darker side, it produces the alkaloid gelsemine.  This neurotoxin is found in all parts of the plant including the nectar.  Although many insects collect the nectar there are cases on record of Carolina Jessamine poisoning honeybees.  This usually happens when no other nectar sources are available. People can also be affected by ingesting Carolina Jessamine.  Symptoms of human poisoning include nausea, diarrhea, blindness and death.  This toxin is so notorious that Agatha Christie had a character use gelsemine in one of her books to commit murder.   

Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) in flower. 
A Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice) is drinking nectar. 
Rowan County North Carolina. 

Carolina Jessamine vines twining counterclockwise.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Asymmetry abounds in nature.  People can be left-handed or right handed, male fiddler crabs have one giant and one small front claw, even some organic molecules come in mirror image forms.  So, take a look at some vines and see which direction they turn.

 

 

A Flock of Seagulls

 

Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis).
Lake Norman, North Carolina. 

Seagull.  The word causes birders to cringe.  Birders will tell you, that while the sea has many gulls, not all gulls are at sea.  Gulls can be found just about anywhere there is water. Oceans, lakes, rivers, marshes, bays.  Speaking of bays, if seagulls fly over the sea, what flies over a bay?  Bay gulls… bagels… get it? 

A mixed flock of  gulls.
Horry County Landfill, South Carolina. 

Gulls thrive all over the world.  You can find them from the Arctic Ocean to the fringes of Antarctica and most spots in between.  They range in size from the aptly named Little Gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus) with their 24-inch wingspan, to the gigantic Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) that is a whopping 5-feet from wing tip to wing tip. Gulls are omnivorous taking whatever food is at hand.  They are equally at home snatching fish from the surface of the ocean to rummaging around a landfill eating discarded pizza crusts.  Some gulls make their living stealing food from other birds like terns.  

Immature Ring-billed Gulls.
Lake Norman, North Carolina. 

Gulls are generally white in color.  Many have gray or black on their backs and upper wing surface, the mantle. As adults, larger gulls usually have white heads, but many species of small gulls have black heads, at least during the breeding season.   Gulls generally have a heavy beak, and all have webbed feet. They can happily paddle on the surface of the water but they do not dive. The plumage of immature gulls often differs widely from the adults.  Large gulls generally take four years to reach the adult plumage, and each year have a different appearance.  Smaller gulls reach maturity in two or three years with a distinct plumage at each stage.  Gulls have a fierce look in their eyes and are graceful, elegant flyers. 

Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus).
Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina. 

The Great Black-backed Gull is the largest gull in the world.  This gull is found from northwestern Europe across the northern Atlantic including Iceland and Greenland and down the east coast of North America. In the adult form this four-year gull has a black mantle, white body and pink legs.  Adult Great Black-backed Gulls have yellow beaks with a red spot on the lower mandible. We will return to the red spot in a couple of minutes. Great Black-backed Gulls are expanding their range south along the Atlantic coast of the United States and into the Great Lakes.  They now breed on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus).
Palm Beach County, Florida. 

Lesser Black-backed Gulls (Larus fuscus) are slightly smaller than Great Black-backed Gulls.  They are also a four-year gull, but their mantle is dark gray rather than rich black and their legs are yellow.   Lesser Black-backed Gulls are abundant in Eurasia and have recently become more common in North America, particularly in winter.  

Adult Herring Gull (Larus argentatus).
Dare County, North Carolina. 

Immature Herring Gull.
Lake Norman, North Carolina. 

Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus) are slightly smaller than Lesser Black-backed Gulls.  These white-headed, gray-mantled, yellow-legged gulls mature in four years and also have a yellow beak with a red spot.  This spot plays an important role in four-year gulls raising their chicks. The young gulls peck at the red spot on the parent's beak and this stimulates the adult to feed their baby.  The Dutch ornithologist Niko Tinbergen did important experiments with Herring Gulls in the 1940s and demonstrated this behavior is instinctual rather than learned.  For this and other research, Tinbergen shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.   

Adult Ring-billed Gull.
Palm Beach County, Florida. 

Ring-billed Gull in flight.
Lake Norman, North Carolina.

Ring-billed Gulls in a Walmart parking lot.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Ring-billed Gulls (Larus delawarensis) are the most common gulls in our area. They are three-year gulls and adults have a gray mantle, yellow legs and a yellow beak with a black ring near the tip.  Ring-billed Gulls breed in Canada and the northern United States and winter in the south from coast to coast.  Every fall around Thanksgiving Ring-billed Gulls show up in our local Walmart parking lot and feed on scraps left by shoppers.   

Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) in breeding plumage.
Palm Beach County, Florida. 

Laughing Gull in winter plumage.
Palm Beach County, Florida. 

Laughing Gulls (Leucophaeus atricilla) are three -year gulls and are smaller than Ring-billed Gulls.  They have a black head, gray mantle, broken white eye ring and red beak during the breeding season. In winter Laughing Gulls have a mostly white head with gray at the back.  The name Laughing Gull comes from their maniacal laugh-like call.  They are found on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast of the United States and further south into Mexico, Central America, northern South America and the Caribbean. 

Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia)
in winter plumage. This species has a white wedge on the wing.
Rowan County, North Carolina.  

Bonaparte's Gull in winter.
Lake Norman, North Carolina. 

Bonaparte's Gulls looking for a meal stirred
 up by a Common Loon (Gavia immer).
Lake Norman, North Carolina. 

Bonaparte’s Gulls (Chroicocephalus philadelphia) are small two-year gulls with a black head and light gray mantle. They have a buoyant, tern-like flight and show a white wedge on the wing in flight. These gulls breed in Canada and winter in the southern United States.  In winter they lack the black head but have a dark smudge behind the eye. Gulls are unable to dive in beneath the surface of the water, but Bonaparte’s Gulls have an interesting feeding strategy that gets around this limitation.  Small flocks of Bonaparte’s Gulls often follow Common Loons (Gavia immer) which are excellent divers.  When Loons dive, they can chase small fish to the surface where the opportunistic Bonaparte’s Gulls can scoop them up. 

Little gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus).
Lake Norman, North Carolina. 

The Little Gull is the smallest gull in the world and is native to Eurasia and North America.  They breed on freshwater lakes and winter at sea. Little gulls have a black head in summer, but in winter, like Bonaparte’s Gull, they have a white head with a black smudge behind the eye.  The most striking thing about Little Gulls, besides their size, is the underside of the wings are black.  A Little Gull showed up in December on Lake Norman in North Carolina.  This rarity was around for the Christmas Bird Count and stayed a few days so quite a few local birders got to see it.    

This rare Slaty-backed Gull (Larus schistisagus) put in an
appearance at the Horry County Landfill in South Carolina.

Slaty-backed Gull and Ring-billed Gull.
Horry County Landfill, South Carolina. 

Sometimes a vagrant gull makes an appearance in our area.  Slaty-backed Gulls (Larus schistisagus) are native to northeastern Asia but often stray to Alaska and other spots in North America.  It is a four-year gull with a white head, a slate-gray mantle and pink legs.  A couple of years ago a Slaty-backed Gull showed up at the Horry County Landfill near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We traveled to the landfill with friends seeking this rare gull.  It seemed unlikely we could pick the Slaty-backed Gull out among the thousands of other gulls, but we followed directions from friendly dump employees and within 10 minutes we saw the Slaty-backed Gull perched on the trash heaps with other gulls.  It may seem odd to say, but the Slaty-backed Gull looked quite elegant standing in that dump.

Immature Heermann's Gull (Larus heermanni).
Palm Beach County, Florida.

Heermann’s Gulls (Larus heermanni) are three-year gulls normally found along the west coast of North America, from southern British Columbia to Mexico.   Most of the Heermann’s Gulls breed on islands in the Gulf of California with a small colony near Monterey, California.  Adult Heermann’s Gulls are gray with a white head and a red beak.  Immature Heermann’s Gulls are dark gray, brown with a black-tipped beak.  These west coast specialties sometimes stray east.  We found an immature Heermann’s Gulls on the beach at Lake Worth, Florida one New Year’s Eve. This bird was 2500 miles from home but doing quite well among the gulls on a Florida beach.     

A flock Ring-billed Gulls and a single Herring Gull
preparing to roost on the water.
Lake Norman, North Carolina. 

Gulls have a bad reputation among some people.  Less appreciative folks call them “rats with wings”.  This name may come from their habit of hanging around dumps.  However, it is people who have given gulls an endless supply of food with our landfills as well as artificial beaches in the form of parking lots where they can congregate.  On the positive side gulls, like many scavengers, perform essential ecosystem services by eating what humans consider waste.  Another thing that has contributed to the poor perception of gulls is Alfred Hitchcock’s film The Birds. In this well know story, birds including shrieking flocks of gulls, begin to attack and kill people in a coastal California town. While I don’t really root for the birds in that movie, I think I understand their motivation.

Gulls at sunset.
Lake Norman, North Carolina. 

 

Cherry, Bee, Fungus, Lichen

Flowers of East Asian Cherry (Prunus serrulata).
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

We have a venerable East Asian Cherry (Prunus serrulata) in our back yead.  It leafs out and flowers early each spring.  It is also the first tree in our yard to lose its leaves in the fall.  By the first week of March its branches are laden with thousands of pink flowers.  These in turn attract swarms of Honeybees (Apis mellifera) and other early pollinators.  On sunny spring days the tree is abuzz with the bees.  The tree also attracts birds throughout the year feeding on the abundance of insects there.  But other, more subtle forms of life are also in the cherry.

Video of Honeybees (Apis mellifera) visiting

East Asian Cherry in the spring.

Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Video by Diane Coggin.

A Honeybee pollinating East Asian Cherry.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus) feeding amidst 
the flowers of East Asian Cherry.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

A winter storm blew through our neighborhood last week dumping two and a half inches of rain, knocking out the power for 12 hours and dropping untold numbers of sticks and branches into our yard.  One of these branches, from our East Asian Cherry, was encrusted with fungi and lichens.   

The most colorful of these fungi was Witch’s Butter (Tremella mesenterica).  This bright yellow blob was emerging from cracks in the bark.  The Witch’s Butter fungus breaks down dead wood, so this branch was dead while still attached to the tree. 

Witch's Butter (Tremella mesenterica)
emerging from the branch.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Giraffe fungus (Peniophora albobadia) is another wood decaying fungus that made a striking display on the branch.  It makes brown patches rimmed by white, much like the spots on a Giraffe (Giraffa sp). 

Giraffe Fungus (Peniophora albobadia)
growing on the branch.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

At least three different lichens were also on the branch.  Lichens are symbiotic organisms made up of a fungus and a photosynthetic alga.  A single, one-inch clump of Usnea strigosa, Beard Lichen, was on the branch.  This lichen grows about 1 inch per year, so the branch was probably dead for at least a year before it was blown from the tree in the storm. 

Beard Lichen (Usnea strigosa).
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

There were several clumps of the foliose lichen Parmotrema perforatum on the branch.  This gray green lichen has a leaf-like structure with black filaments called cilia along its margins.  These cilia probably act to catch dew for the rootless lichen.

Parmotrema perforatum with cilia.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Several Common Button Lichens (Buellia erubescens) were growing on the branch.  This is a crustose lichen that grows tightly appressed to the bark of trees.  Common Button Lichens are light gray with black spore producing structures called apothecia. 

Common Button Lichen (Buellia erubescens).
Rowan County, North Carolina.  

Even in winter, when we think not nothing is happening in a tree, much is still going on.  It is a wonder that a single dead branch from a cherry tree could play host to so many different fungi.  But visual examination only scratches the surface of this diversity because most fungi are microscopic. This branch, blown from a tree by a storm, is an inspiration to look closely at the natural world.

Trumpet Creepers and Catbriers

 

Spines on the stem of Smilax sp.
Rowan County, North Carolina.

Vines has been much on my mind of late.  Last month I wrote about Grape Vines, in September Kudzu, and Poison Ivy in 2020. I will continue this theme with Greenbrier (Smilax sp.) and Trumpet Creeper (Campsis radicans) in this blog.

Smilax rotundifolia showing leaves, spines and tendrils.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Leaf of Smilax bona-nox.
Palm Beach County, Florida. 

There are over 300 species of Smilax worldwide with a mainly tropical distribution, but some species are found in temperate areas.  North America has about 20 species of Greenbrier and Europe has 4. Smilax vines may be woody in older sections, but the stems are mostly green, hence the name Greenbrier.  Many species of Smilax have hooked spines on the stem giving rise to another common name, Catbrier.  I have walked through tangles of Smilax vines and come out with so many scratches that I looked like the loser in a cat fight. These spiny tangles provide small animals shelter from predators. Smilax spines and tendrils also help the vine clamber over other plants.    

Smilax auriculata with male flowers.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Female flowers of Smilax rotundifolia.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Greenbriers have separate male and female plants and their greenish-white flowers appear in spring.  The female Smilax produces dark purple or red berries that are favorites of birds.  While hiking along the southern coast of France we found Mediterranean Smilax (Smilax aspera) with brilliant red berries. Greenbriers have underground stems, the rhizomes, that contain starch and were used by Native Americans as an important food source.  The growing tips of the Smilax vines are edible too, resembling asparagus.   

Smilax rotunifolia fruits.
Rowan County, North Carolina.

Mediterranean Smilax (Smilax aspera) leaves and flowers.
Cap Bear, France.

Fruits of Mediterranean Smilax
Cap Bear, France. 

Trumpet Creeper is a robust woody vine native to eastern North America.  This vine can grow up tree trunks into the forest canopy, or up cliffs or buildings to reach heights of over 30 feet. It has large compound leaves and produces brilliant orange, tubular flowers in summer.  

Leaves of Trumpet Creeper (Campsis radicans)
growing on a wall.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Flowers of Trumpet Creeper.
Clarke County, Georgia.

Trumpet Creeper fruit.
Davidson County, North Carolina.

Ripe Trumpet Creeper fruit showing seeds.
Davidson County, North Carolina. 

Winged seeds of Trumpet Creeper.
Davidson County, North Carolina.

Trumpet Creeper flowers are an important nectar source for Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris). The fruits of Trumpet Creeper are about six inches long and in the fall, they release small, winged seeds.  Trumpet Creeper is widely planted in gardens and will grow on trellises and up walls. We have a Trumpet Creeper growing next to the chimney of our house where its short roots attach the vine to the bricks. 

Trumpet Creeper growing on a cliff.
Davidson County, North Carolina.

Trumpet Creeper growing up a wall. 

Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Trumpet Creeper roots attached to a brick wall.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Greenbrier and Trumpet Creeper are important sources of food and shelter for wildlife. But beyond that, these vines are beautiful and interesting members of the floral kingdom.

Smilax sp spines.
Rowan County, North Carolina.