Vaccinium angustifolium - Lowbush blueberry
Plant community: Oak Hickory
Native region: North America
Mature size: .5 to 2 feet
Habitat: Alpine or subalpine zones, cliffs, balds, or ledges, grassland, meadows and fields, mountain summits and plateaus, ridges or ledges, woodlands
Leaf color: Summer: bright green, Fall: red
Benefit to Wildlife: The black bear, eastern cottontail, and white-tailed deer feed on the foliage of early low-bush blueberry. In spruce-fir forests of north-central Maine, it is preferred deer browse. Early low-bush blueberry is an important moose browse in parts of Maine Fruit is readily eaten by a wide variety of birds and mammals. In some areas, it is a particularly important late summer-early fall ptarmigan food. Flower buds are readily eaten by ruffed grouse during the winter and are considered a major food source during February in some areas. Wildlife species that feed on the fruit include: mammals - black bear, red fox, raccoon, red-backed vole, and many species of mice; birds - American robin, common crow, and eastern bluebird. Wildlife species that eat the fruits of Vaccinium spp. in general include: mammals - white-footed mouse, fox squirrel, red squirrel, eastern spotted skunk, gray fox, and many species of chipmunks; birds - wild turkey, ruffed grouse, spruce grouse, gray catbird, brown thrasher, rufous-sided towhee, northern mockingbird, black-capped chickadee, red-cockaded woodpecker, starling, cardinal, scarlet tanager, Canada goose, herring gull, whimbrel, quail, and thrushes.
Larval host: Specific larval host: Brachionycha borealis
https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/species/vaccinium/angustifolium/
http://garden.org/learn/articles/view/378/
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/savanna/plants/lb_blueberry.html
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/vacang/all.html
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Brachionycha-borealis