Favorite Berries for Wild Birds
When adding a new shrub to your garden, select one that produces berries.
Choosing one that produces berries gives you a living bird feeder. A
garden full of berries is irresistible to birds. Berries are bound to
bring birds blocking to your yard, so plant plenty of berry producing shrubs
like juneberries. If you plant berries like strawberries to eat yourself,
keep the plants covered with netting or you may have to share with the birds.
| Plant Names |
Birds Attracted |
Plant Description |
| American cranberry-bush |
Robins, thrushes, bluebirds, and many
others |
Rounded shrub to 12' tall, with three-lobed
leaves. Flat-topped clusters of white flowers in late spring;
shining red fruits in early fall. |
| Arrowwood |
Cardinals, flycatchers, pheasants, robins,
starlings, thrashers, thrushes, wild turkeys, waxwings, woodpeckers |
Multi-stemmed shrub 8' to 15' tall expands
slowly from base to form a large clump. Clusters of small creamy
flowers in early summer; oval blue-black fruits in fall. |
| Barberries |
Catbirds, mockingbirds, and many others |
Thorny, very dense, rounded shrubs, varying
in size from 18"-tall 'Crimson Pygmy' to 6'-tall 'Red Chief'.
Yellow flowers followed by bright red or orange berries. |
| Blackberries, raspberries, wineberries |
Blackbirds, bluebirds, bobwhites, buntings,
cardinals, catbirds, chickadees, prairie chickens, crows, grackles,
grosbeaks, grouse, jays, mockingbirds, orioles, quails, robins,
sparrows, tanagers, thrashers, thrushes, titmice, towhees, wild turkeys,
vireos, waxwings, woodpeckers, wren |
Bramble fruits of various sizes and colors,
including red, orange-yellow, purple, and purple black. Most species
produce shrubby clusters of arching canes that may be prickly to thorny.
Some brambles spread readily from suckers and by rooting where cane tips
bend over to the ground to form protective thickets where birds may nest
and dine. |
| Black currant |
Robins, mockingbirds, jays and many others |
Twiggy shrub to 6' tall, with lobed leaves.
Clusters to greenish white flowers followed by edible black fruits. |
| Cedars, Junipers |
Bluebirds, catbirds, crossbills, finches,
flickers, grosbeaks, jays, mockingbirds, robins, sapsuckers, tree
swallows, thrashers, hermit thrushes, yellow-rumped warblers, waxwings |
Evergreen conifers with short gray-green
needles, of various habit, from ground-hugging creepers to upright or
gnarled trees |
| Elderberries |
A very wide range of berry-eating birds |
6' to 10' multi-stemmed shrubs with white
flowers and abundant clusters of tiny berries. |
| Hollies |
Bluebirds, bobwhites, catbirds, doves,
flickers, grouse, jays, mockingbirds, quails, robins, sapsuckers,
sparrows, thrashers, thrushes, towhees, wild turkeys, vireos, waxwings,
woodpeckers |
Evergreen and deciduous shrubs and trees
with attractive foliage and red berries |
| Juneberries |
Waxwings, bluebirds, and many others |
Shrubs or small trees with white flowers in
early spring, followed by fruits that turn red, then blue-black or
purple. Leaves turn yellow to deep red in fall. |
| Mulberries |
Bluebirds, cardinals, catbirds, doves,
flickers, flycatchers, grackles, grosbeaks, jays, mockingbirds, orioles,
robins, house sparrows, tanagers, thrashers, thrushes, titmice, vireos,
waxwings, woodpeckers |
Deciduous trees with white, red, purple, or
black-purple fruits; messy and invasive by seed but always a bird
favorite |
| Spicebush |
Bluebirds, bobwhites, catbirds, great
crested flycatchers, pheasants, robins, thrushes, vireos |
Shrub or small tree, often suckering into
small group, with yellow flowers on bare branches in early spring; has
glossy red berries; all parts have delightful spicy scent |
| Strawberries |
Catbirds, prairie chickens, crows,
grosbeaks, grouse, mockingbirds, pheasants, quails, robins, sparrows,
thrashers, thrushes, towhees, wild turkeys |
Groundcovers with clumps of three-lobed
leaves. White or pink flowers in spring followed be delectable red
berries. |
| Virginia creeper |
Bluebirds, catbirds, chickadees, flickers,
flycatchers, mockingbirds, nuthatches, robins, sapsuckers, tree
swallows, thrashers, thrushes, titmice, woodpeckers |
Climbing or ground-covering perennial vine
with five-part leaves that turn beautiful crimson in fall; has grapelike
clusters of deep blue berries |
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