Trees With Berries for Birds

Large Deciduous Trees

• Birds use the common hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) for nesting sites and for shelter in addition to eating the tree's berries. Ripening in the latter weeks of summer, the berries are part of the diet of species such as robins, woodpeckers and brown thrashers. Hackberry grows to 60 feet from USDA Zones 2 through 9.

  Red mulberry (Morus rubra) is native to North America; white mulberry (Morus alba) is not. Red mulberry grows to 50 feet in Zones 4 through 8. The fruit is ripe when it is purple. Only the female trees produce berries, which attract birds. Red mulberry has leaves of variable shapes, even on the same branch.

Small Deciduous Trees

• The serviceberry trees are small, ornamental trees of a deciduous nature that produce berries birds will eat. Shadblow serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) is one of these trees, growing to 20 feet high from northern New England into South Carolina. Species including cardinals and catbirds consume the serviceberry fruit.

  The red fruits of flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) are toxic to humans but not to birds. This attractive, 15- to 30-foot tree has ornamental quality. It features large, white modified leaves surrounding its small flowers in April and May. Flowering dogwood feeds birds across its native range, from Massachusetts west to the Great Lakes and south to the Gulf Coast.

Evergreen Trees

• Juniper trees produce a berry-like, fleshy covering that protects their seeds. Birds, including sparrows, waxwings and tree swallows will eat the fruit of juniper trees.

  English yew (Taxus baccata) is another conifer lacking conventional cones. Its berry-like fruit becomes part of a bird's diet. English yew grows best in North America from USDA Zones 6 into Zone 7; this non-native tree grows exceptionally well in the shade.

Large Shrubs/Small Trees

• The Cornelian cherry dogwood (Cornus mas) hails from Europe and Asia, but it is a versatile and attractive tree or large shrub, growing small enough to utilize as a screen, hedge or patio specimen plant. Blooming in March, the yellow flowers turn into red berries birds consume even into the winter months.

  Gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa) also grows to small tree size, attaining heights of 15 feet from southern New England into the Midwest. Gray dogwood's berries are white and birds "readily" eat them, notes the University of Connecticut Plant Database.