This weird little construction is the opening leaves and flower bud of the native Red Elderberry, Sambucus pubens, a small open-form shrub with weak pithy wood. Very showy in flower and later when the small berries ripen a brilliant scarlet. The berry show doesn't last for long as the birds are quite fond of them.The other native show in progress right now is the flowering of the Red Maple tree, Acer rubra. I used to have a tree with branches close enough to the roof to get a photo (and collect a few twigs for indoors display) but that is now gone; this photo is from 26 April 2000.
Anyways, for those with a long ladder or good binoculars, the flowers are quite attractive and not insignificant. In addition, they are quite fragrant too-- it took me years to figure out where that particular spring fragrance was coming from!
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