Which birds eat yew or viburnum berries? (1 Viewer)

[lvn600]

Does anyone know which birds would eat the berries of the Viburnum lantana Mohican. I was also wondering which birds if any eat yew berries. I would appreciate you input-thanks-Larry
:h?:

 

[snapper]

Does anyone know which birds would eat the berries of the Viburnum lantana Mohican. I was also wondering which birds if any eat yew berries. I would appreciate you input-thanks-Larry
:h?:

Hi Larry it is mainly the thrush family that eat the berries of the yew & viburnum the yew berries seed in the middle of the fruit is highly posionous but the birds swallow them & the seed passes through them intact the leaves & stems are also posionous so be careful with pets & children if you look in old church yards you will find lots of yew trees they planted them for the kings archers to make arrows from the stems, this ment even if the arrow only caused a flesh wound you would still die from the poison. You will find with most berrying trees you will need to plant a male & female to produce berries if there is other houses near by with shrubs with berries someone has a male plant somewhere then you will not have to buy a male plant yourself so check others gardens first by the way yew does not like heavy or water logged soils it likes neutral to acid soil well drained hope this has been some help.

Regards Snapper.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

An addition to what snapper said:

Ringnecked Parakeets and Yellowheaded Amazon (feral colonies of both species in Germany) feed on the seeds in the yew berries, but don't seem to eat much of the fruit flesh.
I found this observation interesting as I had learned the seeds were the part of the yew with the highest toxicity. But it seems parrots in the wild can cope with quite a lot of toxic seeds.

 

[lvn600]

You will find with most berrying trees you will need to plant a male & female to produce berries if there is other houses near by with shrubs with berries someone has a male plant somewhere then you will not have to buy a male plant yourself so check others gardens first by the way yew does not like heavy or water logged soils it likes neutral to acid soil well drained hope this has been some help.

Thanks for your replies. I already have 60' of yew hedges in my yard but although I've seen a lot of birds nest in them I haven't figured out what birds were eating the berries. I have seen waxwings in the yard on occasion and wondered if they ate them as well. I just planted the viburnum.

 

[Ruby]

Hi Lyn,

Don't know about US birds, but here in the UK it is the Thrushes (particularly Winter visitors like Redwing, Fieldfare and migrating Blackbirds) who go for the Yew berries in my garden.

Possibly of interest is that we have quite a range of berries on offer - Rowan, Elder, Holly, Hawthorn, Pyracanthus, Cotoneaster etc - but the Yew are always cleaned up first!


Rgds... Ruby