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NATIVE PLANTS
FOR ATTRACTING BIRDS To provide habitat for the largest diversity of birds, try to include plants from as many of these plant groups as possible on your property. Choosing plants that produce fruit or seed at different times of year ensures that your backyard will always have something to attract birds. Summer-Fruiting Plants This category includes plants that produce fruits or berries from May through August. Birds that can be attracted in the summer include bluebirds, robins, waxwings, woodpeckers, cardinals, towhees, and grosbeaks. Amelanchier arborea - Downy Serviceberry Amelanchier canadensis - Shadbush Prunus serotina - Black Cherry Rubus allegheniensis - Allegheny Blackberry Sambucus canadensis - Elderberry Vaccinium corymbosum - Highbush Blueberry Fall-Fruiting Plants Plants whose fruit ripen in the fall are important both for migratory birds, which build up fat reserves prior to migration, and as a food source for non-migratory species that need to enter the winter season in good physical condition. Birds include orioles, thrushes, thrasher, catbirds, along with those in the summer category. Cornus Florida - Flowering Dogwood Crataegus viridis - Green Hawthorne Chionanthus virginica - Fringetree Nyssa sylvatica - Tupelo Sassafras albidum - Sassafrass Viburnum prunifolium - Blackhaw Viburnum Myrica pennsylvanica - Northern Bayberry Winter-Fruiting Plants Winter-fruiting plants are those whose fruits remain attached to the plants long after they first become ripe in the fall. Many are not palatable until they have frozen and thawed numerous times. Birds include hermit thrush, waxwing, robin, and bluebird. Aronia arbutifolia - Red Chokecherry Ilex opaca - American Holly Ilex verticillata - Winterberry Holly Rhus typhina - Staghorn Sumac Euonymus americana - Strawberry Bush Parthenocissus quinquefolia - Virginia Creeper Nut and Acorn Plants The meats of broken nuts and acorns are eaten by a variety of birds including blackbird, chickadee, tufted titmice, wood duck, flicker, nuthatch, quail, towhee, turkey, and woodpecker. These plants also provide good nesting habitat. Quercus rubra - Red Oak Quercus phellos - Willow Oak Carya ovata - Hickory Juglans nigra - Black Walnut Fagus grandiflora - American Beech Corylus americana - American Hazelnut Conifers Conifers are evergreen trees and shrubs that provide escape cover, winter shelter, and summer nesting sites. Some also provide sap, buds, and seeds. Waxwings eat the berries of cedars, junipers and yews. Chickadees, crossbills, goldfinches, nuthatches, siskins, and woodpeckers pick the winged seeds out of pine cones. Chamaecyparis thyoides - Atlantic White-Cedar Juniperus virginiana - Eastern Red Cedar Pinus strobus - White Pine Pinus virginiana - Virginia Pine Grasses and Legumes Grasses and legumes (pea family) can provide cover for ground nesting birds--especially if the area is not mowed during the nesting season. Some grasses and legumes provide seeds as well. Ground nesting birds attracted include bobwhite quail, field and song sparrows, and redwing blackbirds. Amorpha fruticosa - False Indigo Andropogon gerardii - Big Bluestem Panicum virgatum - Switchgrass Schizachyrium scoparium - Little Bluestem Sorghatrum nutans - Indiangrass Nectar-Producing Plants Nectar-producing plants are very popular for attracting hummingbirds. Flowers with tubular red corollas are especially attractive. Campsis radicans - Trumpetvine Lonicera sempervirens - Coral Honeysuckle Monarda fistulosa - Bee Balm Lobelia cardinalis - Cardinal Flower Aquilegia canadensis - Wild Columbine |