Native Plants that Feed Winter Birds
Feeding our winter bird population is a pleasant chore. It’s a treat to observe birds close up in feeders. One of the nicest feeders I have enjoyed was a clear plexiglass one that stuck to the outside of my kitchen window. As I washed dishes, I could really observe winter birds closely, especially Christmas-card cardinals.
I keep suet feeders filled, as well as suspended tube feeders with thistle seed for goldfinches. Platform feeders and hopper feeders hold sunflower seeds and nuts to feed a variety of woodpeckers.
Winter birds need a diet high in fat from berries and fruit, especially when most insects are not available. Your own garden can augment purchased bird feed while providing sanctuary to birds in cold weather. Native plants provide this and more, especially pollen and nectar during the warmer growing season.
Berry-laden trees and shrubs provide fruit that softens and sweetens as winter progresses, becoming more palatable to the birds. As I admired a native holly, Ilex opaca, with its bright red berries, a small flock of towhees swept over the tree and ate every berry as I watched. Some hollies produce berries that can sustain birds until early spring.
Birds also need protection from winter weather for nesting, and many evergreens provide that. Canadian hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), arborvitae (Thuja species), pines, and Eastern red cedar (Juniparis virginiana ) are evergreens that provide both food and shelter. Eastern junipers make seeds consumed by cedar waxwings, robins, finches, flickers, grosbeaks, bluebirds and warblers. Dogwoods (Cornus canadensis) provide red berries in late summer through fall for cardinals, bluebirds, juncos, robins, warblers and towhees.
Viburnums such as Cardinal Candy have berries that persist into winter. They feed woodpeckers, mockingbirds, finches, bluebirds, robins, grosbeaks and thrushes. Vines like Virginia creeper have fruits that persist into winter for warblers, robins, thrushes, bluebirds, vireos, cardinals and woodpeckers. Red and black chokeberries (Aronia spp) provide fruit for winter. Winterberries (Ilex verticillate) and hawthorn (Crataegus spp) all supply nourishment. Orange winterberries seem to be eaten later than the red varieties. Other berry-rich natives include staghorn sumac and winged sumac.
Leave the seedheads of coneflower (Echinacea spp) on the plants, as they nourish finches, chickadees, nuthatches and towhees.
Check them out now, and work them into your garden and landscaping this spring and summer.