Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

I was visited by a mourning dove ( Zenaida macroura ) this morning. No doubt as soon as some of you read the title, you were annoyed as any proper birder would be. Upon reading it, the thought; "it's pronounced "mourning" not "morning"!", flashed through your mind with unforgivable zeal. Perhaps I'm being too presumptive. Maybe. Mourning doves are a common backyard bird found over most of the United States and are one of two species of pigeon that can be found in New York state. The other is the ubiquitous rock pigeon (or dove depending on the age of your field guide) that I see everyday stealing grain from the ducks on the zoo's main pond or soaring v-winged over the skyscrapers and ruined factory buildings of downtown Syracuse. While we've been visited by pigeons every once in a while, the bird that visited this morning was a juvenile. The plumage on this bird is scalloped and a little unkempt. It likely hatched out a month ago and ...

So after getting up this morning, I went to the basement to check on the sumac-ade. The water that the berries were seeping in had turned a light grapefruit juice pink and tasted vaguely acidic. I took the mixture upstairs and strained it. Some of the small red berries had escaped the clusters and floated to the top. The red hairs that covered the berries also floated throughout the mixture and remained in the liquid long after straining. After straining out the liquid, I taste-tested the concoction. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't amazing either. It was tart, but waxy in texture. I took a smaller amount in a different glass and added some sugar. It tasted a little better after that. After that I cleaned out the pitcher, refilled with the sumac-ade, and added three spoonfuls of sugar. That made the difference! Below, I've photographed the steps to making the sumac-ade. If you want more concise instructions for doing so, consult Samuel Thayer's book, The Forager...