Berry-producing native shrubs feed birds

Feed the birds!  Plant native shrubs and trees such as viburnums, spicebush, and dogwoods whose berries provide high quality nutrition for birds.

The diet of many North American birds includes fruits.  Growing native shrubs in your yard will help sustain these species as they feed their young and help fuel migration by non-resident birds. 
Here are some examples of PA natives to include in your landscaping and the birds that they support:

• Elderberries (Sambucus sp.), and serviceberries (Amelanchier sp. - see photo) are eaten by cardinals, rose-breasted grosbeaks, scarlet tanagers, robins, and waxwings.
  
• Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) – our native dogwood – grows its fruits in the fall and supports robins, bluebirds, thrushes, catbirds, and cardinals.
• Viburnum species, such as Nannyberry and arrowwood, are shrubs that are easy to grow in your yard.  They flower in the spring and produce berries that are eaten by robins, bluebirds, thrushes, catbirds, cardinals, finches, and waxwings.
• Winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata) is a hardy shrub whose attractive red berries are an important food source for birds that overwinter here.  This plant has separate sexes, so it is best to plant both male and female shrubs.
• Spicebush berries are consumed by both resident and migrant birds and the shrub is deer resistant.  It can grow in the shade but will produce more berries in a sunnier location.  This shrub also hosts caterpillars which are another important food source for birds.

Find out more from Audubon.org.and Cornell Bird Lab.

Photo of Serviceberry by Susan O'Donnell

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