The Birds and the Berries
Just as we humans switch from salads and frozen treats in summer to roasts and steaming beverages as days shorten and temperatures drop, birds change up their diets with the seasons, too. Many of our feathered friends who feast on caterpillars and other bugs for most of the year turn their focus to berries in the autumn. Those fruits provide the oomph they need to get through the winter, particularly if they’re migrating south. Nothing like a thousand-mile commute by wing to incentivize bulking up a bit.
Researchers have found that birds have a strong preference for the berries of native trees and shrubs over exotics. It’s not just that these local foods taste yummily familiar. They’re also far more nutritious: they contain more of the fats, carbohydrates, antioxidants and other nutrients birds need to survive the cold months and/or make it to the tropics. Around me, the native health-food bar includes dogwoods, viburnums, spicebush, pokeweed, Virginia creeper, hollies, bayberries, blueberries, chokeberries and sumacs, among many others.
In contrast, the fruits of invasive and other exotic plants are the nutritional equivalents of junk food. Given a choice between native and non-native berries, birds will opt for the healthier local fare. When no natives can be found, though, they’ll binge on what’s available, perhaps trying to compensate for the nutritional deficiencies. In one sad example, a study in Georgia found that a group of Cedar waxwings died from gorging on the bright red berries of non-native heavenly bamboo, which – in addition to their empty calories – contain trace amounts of cyanide.
Some of the more common “from-away” species in my neck of the woods are Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maacki), porcelain berry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata), multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora), Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), and the aforementioned heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica). I don’t know about your neighborhood, but I’d wager mine has ten heavenly bamboo shrubs for every native counterpart. We’ve somehow been convinced by mainstream nurseries and landscapers to turn our yards into avian food deserts – or worse, poison platters.
So as you contemplate next year’s garden over your hot cocoa this winter, add native fruiting shrubs to your mix. Cross any invasives off the list while you’re at it. Indeed, the best and most sustainable bird feeders are not the ones you buy in a big box store and fill with commercial seed mixes (find more on that topic here). They’re the native trees, shrubs and perennials that support insects and produce berries while providing habitat and other invaluable ecosystem services.
To find out what fruiting shrubs and trees are native in your area, go to Audubon’s Plants for Birds database and enter your zip code (they’ll ask for your email, too, but that’s optional). Then filter the search as you wish (e.g., “shrubs”, “fruit,” etc.). The site points me, for example, to black chokeberries (Aronia melanocarpa), among 18 other fruiting shrubs. It also tells me that black chokeberries may attract vireos, orioles, sparrows, thrushes, jays, mockingbirds, woodpeckers, waxwings and wood warblers. I’d call that a pretty decent ROI.
Native berries. They’re the berries!
If you live in the DC vicinity and could use assistance with sustainable landscaping, visit Bees’ Knees Design. I’d be happy to help you.
Resources
Doreen Cubie, “Better Berries for Birds,” National Wildlife Federation, Feb - Mar 2020.
Tovah Martin, “Want to Help Birds this Winter? Plant Native Berries,” Washington Post, Nov. 16, 2023.
Priyanka Runwal, “Migratory Birds Like Native Berries Best,” Audubon Magazine, Jun. 12, 2020
Moges Wodemelska and Eloise Styer, “Toxicity Due to Nandina Domestica and Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum),” University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, July 25, 2013.
Good reminder! Thank you for making people aware.
Excellent post, Lolly. We have a few red nibbles on our new baby winterberry holly trees for the birds. Can’t wait for the trees to grow bigger. Thank you so much for this planting suggestion!