Which berries do birds prefer? (1 Viewer)

[Humanist]

Hello. I live in Ontario, Canada and have an all-native garden. I'm adding to it but I'd like to know what birds eat and when. For example, I know that serviceberries get eaten right away when they ripen in early summer and that my high bush cranberries may never get eaten, but if they are it will be late winter. I have noticed that elderberries and silky dogwood berries get eaten right away when they ripen in late summer/fall.

How about hawthorn? red osier dogwood? snowberry? nanyberry? crabapple? mountain ash?

Thanks!

 

[Shirley Roulston]

All of those but I'm not sure about Snowberry, I think I have some but nothing eats them. Mountain Ash the Rowen the birds love them, Hawthorn, all the Thrush family love these and the Blackbirds, Crabapple and Dogwood I've hear that birds will eat them. Can you get Alder trees, Siskins and Redpoll love the katkins.

 

[DownyWP]

Welcome to the forum and congrats for establishing a native garden! One thing a very experienced backyard birder taught me is that there are "Broccoli" berries and "Candy" berries. You have already seen this, the candy berries are the ones that taste good as soon as they're ripe, such as serviceberries, twinberries, Red-flowering Currant, Mahonia, Salal, huckleberries, red and blue elderberries and even Mountain Ash, Red-twig Dogwood and Pacific Yew. At my place, the waxwings arrive early and wait around until they're ripe and they are gone instandly! Twinberry and Red-flowering Currant have the additional bonus of attracting Rufous Hummingbirds as well. Others such as Cranberry Viburnum, Douglas Hawthorne, Crabapples are more the "broccoli" berries, they taste better after a few freeze-n-thaws, but they do get eaten eventually. The last resort of berries at my place are snowberries, although hummingbirds do seem to appreciate their flowers. Another late winter berry source is holly, although I don't think it is native, at least not in my area.

 

[Humanist]

For the Hawthorn, have you noticed what time of year they get eaten? I've noticed that they've been ripe a while and nothing is toughing them. Same story in a local nature area.

All of those but I'm not sure about Snowberry, I think I have some but nothing eats them. Mountain Ash the Rowen the birds love them, Hawthorn, all the Thrush family love these and the Blackbirds, Crabapple and Dogwood I've hear that birds will eat them. Can you get Alder trees, Siskins and Redpoll love the katkins.

 

[Thomas1962]

When I lived in southern Ontario, I would have put Mountain-ash (Rowen) at the top of my list. Here in northern Ontario, it is an abundant tree of the boreal forest and during mast years (e.g. 2008, 2009), we can count on large numbers of fruit eaters (Bohemian Waxwings, American Robins, Pine Grosbeaks, etc) overwintering and exploiting the superabundant crop of berries through the winter. Unless I find a cultivar that isn't synchronized with the wild population of Mountain-ash, I don't think I'd plant it.

This autumn, with no Mountain-ash available, the flowering crabapple is a real magnet - I took some photos of recent visitors and posted them here.

In our region, migrants also feed heavily on Cornus and Viburnum although very little fruit remains beyond the first frosts.

Good luck.