identified at last

Last night, I was in the den — which faces the street — with the windows wide open when a neighbourhood nature tour-type group came by. (I don't actually know who they were — I looked out the window and there were a group of adults, 10 to 15 of them, with notepads, and a person, obviously a guide of some sort, talking.) They had stopped in front of our house. I didn't want them to see me, so I stood next to the window, out of sight, but when she said, "This small tree is one of my favourite kinds of trees. Can anyone tell me what it is?" I pricked up my ears.

And so, a wee bit of eavesdropping and a confirmatory trip to Google later, I can now tell you that the tree in front of our house is a Saskatoon berry.


This is an old photo from April, 2010, i.e., before the yard started blooming. It doesn't look like this right now.
This apparently explains why this one particular robin keeps trying to attack the tree (or perching on it — and then falling off because the tree branches are wee and can't take its weight. It's actually very funny). Supposedly the berries are edible, but difficult to get because they are popular with birds; as soon as they're ripe (in early summer), the birds swoop in and get them all.

I feel very proud of myself and my detective skills. It still counts, doesn't it, even if it required a large dose of serendipity?