Bird food plants are certain trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants bearing
fruits
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...
which afford food for
birds
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
. These have been discovered by observation, and by the scientific examination of the contents of birds' stomachs. By planting those species, therefore, which have been proved most desirable and that are suited to the climate and soil of the chosen location, birds can be attracted to the vicinity of dwelling houses or to any other desired spot as a copse or shrubbery, or, on the other hand, lured away from valuable
orchard
An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of ...
s, since they appear to like best arid, bitter, sour or aromatic fruits, distasteful to human beings, even better than the cultivated kinds.
Many of these bird-attracting plants are ornamental as well, since many have pretty fruits, red in color and often clinging to their branches far into the winter, furnishing grateful additions to the meager fare of hard-weather birds.
Plant genera
Trees
* figs (''
Ficus
''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extendi ...
Prunus
''Prunus'' is a genus of trees and shrubs, which includes (among many others) the fruits plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds.
Native to the North American temperate regions, the neotropics of South America, and the ...
Quercus
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ...
'')
* magnolias (''
Magnolia
''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...
* bietou or boneseed ('' Chrysanthemoides'')
* cotoneaster or firethorn ('' Cotoneaster'')
* elders ('' Sambucus'')
* serviceberries or juneberries (''
Amelanchier
''Amelanchier'' ( ), also known as shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry (or just sarvis), juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum, wild-plum or chuckley pear,A Digital Flora of Newfoundland and Labrador Vascular Plants/ref> is a g ...
Symphoricarpos
''Symphoricarpos'', commonly known as the snowberry, waxberry, or ghostberry, is a small genus of about 15 species of deciduous shrubs in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae. With the exception of the Chinese coralberry, '' S. sinensis'', whi ...
'')
* buckthorns or lotebushes ('' Ziziphus'')
* sumachs (''
Rhus
Sumac ( or ), also spelled sumach, is any of about 35 species of flowering plants in the genus ''Rhus'' and related genera in the cashew family ( Anacardiaceae). Sumacs grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, including Ea ...
Grewia
''Grewia'' is a large flowering plant genus in the mallow family Malvaceae, in the expanded sense as proposed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. Formerly, Grewia was placed in either the family Tiliaceae or the Sparrmanniaceae. However, t ...
Condalia
''Condalia'' is a genus of spiny shrubs in the tribe Rhamneae of the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae. It was named for Antonio Condal, an 18th Spanish physician. Members of the genus are native to tropical and subtropical deserts and xeric shrubl ...
'')
* nockaway (''
Ehretia
''Ehretia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It contains about 50 species.
The generic name honors German botanical illustrator Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708–1770).
Species
Accepted species and other notable ...
Vitis
''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 79 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, ...
Amphicarpaea
''Amphicarpaea'', commonly known as hogpeanut, is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae.
Species include:
*'' A. bracteata'' – eastern North America
*'' A. edgeworthii'' Benth. – ea ...
'')
* milk pea (''
Galactia
''Galactia'' is a genus of plants in the legume family ( Fabaceae). It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae. They do not have an unambiguous common name, being commonly called milk peas, beach peas or wild peas.
Selected species
* ''Galactia ...
'')
Birds
Sparrows
The many
sparrow
Sparrow may refer to:
Birds
* Old World sparrows, family Passeridae
* New World sparrows, family Passerellidae
* two species in the Passerine family Estrildidae:
** Java sparrow
** Timor sparrow
* Hedge sparrow, also known as the dunnock or hed ...
s feed chiefly on weed seeds, but more acceptable plants from the gardener's point of view can be offered to them:
* so-called millets ('' Panicum,
Setaria
''Setaria'' is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family. The name is derived from the Latin word ''seta'', meaning "bristle" or "hair", which refers to the bristly spikelets.
The genus includes over 100 species distributed in many tr ...
,
Eleusine
''Eleusine'' is a genus of Asian, African, and South American plants in the grass family,Amaranthus,
Polygonum
''Polygonum'' is a genus of about 130 species of flowering plant in the buckwheat and knotweed family Polygonaceae. Common names include knotweed and knotgrass (though the common names may refer more broadly to plants from Polygonaceae). In ...
'')
* chamomiles, white and yellow (''
Anthemis
''Anthemis'' is a genus of aromatic flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, closely related to '' Chamaemelum'', and like that genus, known by the common name chamomile; some species are also called dog-fennel or mayweed. ''Anthemis'' are nati ...
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...
s are attracted by several aquatic and semi-aquatic plants, among the most important being:
* wild rice ( ''Zizania'')
* wild celery, or tape-grass ('' Vallisneria'')
* pondweeds ('' Potamogeton'')
* arrowheads, also called wapato and the Delta duck potato ('' Sagittaria'')
* wild millet ('' Echinochloa'')
* chufa tubers ('' Cyperus'')
*{{Americana, wstitle=Birds, Plants Attractive to, author=Helen Ingersoll This work in turn cites:
** Kennard, H., ''List of Trees, Shrubs, Vines and Herbaceous Plants, native to New England, bearing fruit or seeds attractive to Birds'' (Reprint from ''Bird-Lore'', v. XIV, no. 4, 1912)
**McAtee, W. L., ''Plants useful to attract Birds and protect Fruit'', (Reprint from ''Yearbook of Agriculture'' 1898)
** Pamphlets, farmers' bulletins, circulars and reports published by the
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...