The beautiful scaffolding climbing many trees here is changing from cautionary yellow to dangerous red. The golden husks on the Asian Bittersweet vines (Celastrus orbiculatus) are opening, exposing the hidden glossy-red berries that the birds eat. It’s a tragic collaboration.
The birds spread this tree-assassin’s seeds so profusely that all known countermeasures to completely eradicate or even to get ahead of the invader’s propagation have been failures. (Brooklin, Maine)