The American holly does more than brighten up our winter woods. Here’s a primer on this iconic plant.

Identification

The American holly (Ilex opaca) grows as far south as Florida, but it’s also found in a few places in Massachusetts. To spot one, search for these characteristics:

• Small size—in the Northeast, it usually grows only 20-40 feet tall, though in balmy southern climes it can reach up to 100 feet
• Greenish-grey bark
• Spiny, leathery leaves that are shiny on top and pale green below
• Greenish flowers in early spring
• Often found in sandy coastal forests

Decorative Drupes

What about those characteristic red berries? They’re not really berries—botanists call them “drupes,” which means fruit that has flesh surrounding a hard central pit that forms from a flower’s ovary wall. Other drupes include peaches, cherries, and olives.

If you see a holly with fruit, you know it’s a female plant. You also know that there must be a male plant nearby. Only females make fruit, but they need the pollen of a male to get started. American hollies flower in late spring, and pollinators like bees and moths carry pollen from male trees to female trees.

Though holly fruit is toxic to people, it’s an important winter food source for birds and other wildlife.

Saving the American Holly

The American holly was once in danger of disappearing in Massachusetts. People were cutting too many holly boughs for decoration, and they were also clearing forests in sandy coastal areas to build houses.

Enter the “holly man,” Wilfrid Wheeler.  In the 1930s, Wheeler was worried that hollies might disappear from the Cape, so he began to grow the plants on his property, Ashumet Farm in Falmouth. He also encouraged people to plant hollies on public land.

Wheeler’s farm later became Mass Audubon’s Ashumet Holly Wildlife Sanctuary. His legacy lives on: the wildlife sanctuary is home to some 1,000 holly trees of 65 varieties.

Currently New England is hosting a major incursion of snowy owls, many of which will likely spend the winter in our area.

Typically these Arctic visitors tend to appear most frequently near the coast, but the first report this year was inland at Mount Wachusett in Princeton on November 17. Since then, snowy owls have been showing up all over Massachusetts. See a map of recent sightings on eBird.

Why So Many Snowy Owls?

The snowy owl is considered an “irruptive” species—one that responds to changes in the conditions on its home territory by moving elsewhere in search of food.  Some of the factors that may trigger these irruptions include variations in food supply in the Arctic, severe snow and ice cover in their usual wintering areas, or a superabundance of owls resulting from an exceptional nesting season prior to a southward irruption.

For many years it was assumed that snowy owl irruptions only occurred in years when the lemmings that comprise the snowy owls’ primary food in the Arctic were in short supply, thus forcing the starving owls to move south in search of food.

However, Norman Smith, sanctuary director of Blue Hills Trailside Museum and lead of Mass Audubon’s Snowy Owl Project says “We actually see the most snowy owls in New England after an Arctic lemming population boom, not bust.” High lemming populations improve breeding success, and irruptions typically consist mostly of hatch-year birds (ones born this year).

Where to See Snowy Owls

Snowy owls arriving in Massachusetts tend to seek local habitats that mimic the Arctic tundra where they spend most of their lives, such as large salt marshes, extensive agricultural fields, and even airports. Popular sightings include Westport, New Bedford, Nantucket, Orleans, Duxbury Beach, and of course, Plum Island.

Accordingly, if you are passing a large open field this winter, that white spot in the distance might only be an errant piece of plastic, but it could also be a snowy owl!

If you do see a snowy owl, do enjoy from afar as to not disturb their normal behavior.

Have you seen a snowy owl this season? Is so, please share where and when in the comments and report to eBird.

Text by Marj Rines; Photo © Dave Larson