Recommended Plants for Birds

Trees & Shrubs That Bring Wildlife to Your Yard

Want to attract more birds to your outdoor space? Planting the right trees and shrubs is one of the best ways to do it. These plants provide natural food sources, shelter and nesting spots, turning your landscape into a bird-friendly habitat.

Bird-Attracting Trees

Trees offer fruit, insects, and safe nesting areas for a wide variety of birds.

American Mountain Ash – Bright berries attract cedar waxwings, bluebirds, grosbeaks, and more.
Downy Serviceberry – A favorite of fruit-eating birds like wood thrush, vireos, and grosbeaks.
Eastern Red Cedar – Supports over 50 species and provides year-round cover and nesting sites.
Flowering Crabapple – Small fruits are enjoyed by flickers and sparrows.
Flowering Dogwood – Popular with thrushes, woodpeckers, tanagers, and grosbeaks.
Hawthorn – Especially attractive to cedar waxwings.
Red Mulberry – Loved by tanagers, cuckoos, and many others.
Sugar Maple – Offers nesting sites and attracts insect-eating birds like warblers and orioles.
White Oak – Acorns feed blue jays, woodpeckers, and flickers.

Bird-Attracting Shrubs

Shrubs add layers to your landscape, providing food, cover, and protection for birds year-round.

American Cranberry Bush – A winter food source for grouse, turkeys, waxwings, and bluebirds.
American Elderberry – Attracts over 30 species, including cardinals and woodpeckers.
Brambles – Feed nearly 50 species with their abundant fruit.
Common Spicebush – A magnet for migrating birds and woodland species.
Highbush Blueberry – A favorite of robins, bluebirds, orioles, and many more.
Nannyberry – Dense growth offers cover; berries attract catbirds and waxwings.
Northern Bayberry – A critical food source for migratory birds like warblers.
Pagoda Dogwood – Draws woodpeckers, thrushes, and bluebirds.
Red-Osier Dogwood – Provides both fruit and dense shelter for songbirds.
Staghorn Sumac – Supports ground-nesting birds and fruit-eaters alike.
Wild Rose – Rose hips feed birds from late summer into fall.
Bearberry & Cowberry – Excellent groundcovers that provide berries for sparrows and grouse.

Create a Bird-Friendly Landscape

By combining trees, shrubs and groundcovers, you create layers of food and shelter that birds rely on throughout the seasons. The result? More color, more movement and more birds enjoying your garden year-round.