Birds Have Their Preferences Among The Fruit In Your Garden

Nearly every type of fleshy fruit of the wilds is used as food by birds at sometime or other, although some kinds are much preferred to others.

It is hard to understand why birds choose the food they do, but they seem to have their own taste in the matter.

The Myrtle Warbler will go right past the delicious looking, translucent red fruit of the American Cranberrybush and stop to make a meal from the white berries of the Poison Ivy. The Scarlet Tanager likes soft fruits such as the Blackberry, Raspberry, and Serviceberry. He is just like some us when it comes to candy; some of us like soft centers and others prefer the hard centers.

Robin Isn't Fussy

The Robin isn't so fussy as long there is plenty of it. The Blue Jay will eat a number of kinds fruit but he is particularly happy when he has a good White Oak acorn held tight in his claws so he can break it with his beak.

The Bluebird likes to eat the red fruit of the Sumac. The Chickadee, our small grayish-white winter friend with the black cap, usually lives on small insects and insect larva, but when gets cold and food becomes scarce he comes to the Sumac table to dine.

The Shadblow Serviceberry, a good low growing tree or large shrub, is fine for home grounds planting and it is also excellent for birds. The berry is ready for them about the first of June and some fruits may be found still hanging on the tree until August if the birds have missed them. Usually the fruit vanishes down their throats as soon as it ripens.

If You Can Get It

The Dogwoods are a group of shrubs and small trees whose; fruits are well liked by a number of our feathered friends. Most them are smooth stemmed shrubs whose common names come from the color of their bark. The Purple or Silky Dogwood has purplish bark and the Redosier Dogwood has reddish bark. They are both found in low wet places along the borders of marshes and streams. They will both, however grow well in the average yard.

The Silky Dogwood has small flat clusters of whitish or lead colored fruits. The Gray Dogwood is the gray stemmed shrubs in this group. This is perhaps the best of these shrubs for average yards. It is usually found on well drained soil in thickets at the edge of the oak woods and often it extends into the woods itself. It has attractive white fruit borne in flat clusters on rose-red stems: these stems hang on the shrub as a misty pink after the leaves and fruit are gone.

It should be remembered that these Dogwoods are large shrubs which take considerable room. They are excellent plants for a background or border at the end or edge of a yard. The fruit of these shrubs is known to be eaten by over 80 species of birds; these shrubs also furnish good shelter. The Pagoda Dogwood is a small tree which grows about 20 feet tall. It has smooth greenish branches which are streaked with white these branches are arranged in interesting horizontal tiers. The fruit is deep blue in color and comes in broad open clusters. The birds get good picking from the Dogwoods from June until early winter. The Cardinal is particularly fond of Dogwood berries.

Elder One of Best

The Viburnums are a group of ornamental shrubs which are excellent in the yard because of their flowers, good foliage, and fine fruit. The plants range in size from small shrubs 3 or 4 feet high to some which are almost small trees. The Viburnums are quite closely related to the American Elder, one of the finest shrubs for the bird garden. Its fruit is usually plentiful and is eaten by over 100 species of birds.

The flowers of most Viburnums like those of the American Elder are in flat clusters. The flowers are followed by clusters of fruits which furnish a large amount of pulp for the birds. The fruits vary from blue-black and purplish-black to translucent red as in the case of the American Cranberrybush. Outstanding in this group of shrubs is the Downy Viburnum, a medium-sized shrub found on rocky limestone ridges. It has purplish-black fruit. The Maple leaved Viburnum is a shrub 4 or 5 feet tall which fruits better in the shade than do most shrubs.

Good Nesting Places

The Nannyberry and the Blackhaw are large shrubs with good fruit and they also furnish good shelter and nesting places. They and_ the American Cranberrybush, which has red fruit, are eaten by some 30 species of birds.

The Red cedar and the Common Juniper have berries of a waxy nature which give a variation to the diet. These waxy berries can usually be had nearly anytime of the year for the taking. Besides giving food these trees, being evergreens, offer excellent shelter for those birds which stay with us during the winter months.

The plants that have been mentioned are just a beginning of the list of good trees and shrubs for bird areas. You undoubtedly know of others that are equally as good. If there is room why not plant an additional shrub which will give food and shelter to birds?