Claude really enjoyed Spring this year. We have 3 tall shrubs that get red berries. When they begin to ferment, the birds flock over at cocktail time to get woozy and spit pits at each other. Two of those shrubs have nasty thorns (Pyracantha, pictured) but one does not (Cotoneaster). Because of the early hard frost last October, the Pyracantha berries did not form so the only ones left were the Cotoneaster, which is normally shunned by the birds. I guess it has the second best berries. All the shrubs are about 5 feet tall and are along a 4 foot fence.

Claude is the same color as the weathered wood fence. He would climb up to the top rail of the fence where he was hidden by the Cotoneaster, and he would wait. He would start waiting at about 10 in the morning. The birds would come by in flocks, and he would lunge. He often got one and it would sometimes get away, often with our help. He spent 8 hours a day on that fence rail when the berries were ripe. He was happy. The birds were not. I learned some new bird alarm calls.