Beyond the Bird feeder: Best plants to feeds birds naturally

Attracting birds to your yard with a host of feeders is a great way to experience our feathered friends, but the ultimate goal is to create a natural backyard bird-feeding garden that attracts a greater variety of birds and does it more efficiently and for less cost.

That’s not to say we put away the feeders completely. Our feeding station, for example, provides countless hours of enjoyment. It’s daily entertainment I can’t imagine ever living without.

But, let’s face it, feeding backyard birds with commercial seed gets expensive, fast.

If you’re like me, both the look of the feeders and their quality are significant factors in the decision to make a purchase. But the real cost of feeding birds is the weekly or monthly seed costs that keep adding up. Specialty seed, suet, meal worms … the choices are endless.

These concentrated locations where the birds feed can also be a magnet for unwanted visitors to our garden such as an abundance of rats and mice. Best to keep them at bay.

And, let’s not forget the troubling fact that seed-eating birds make up only a small percentage of the bird species that might visit our yards. Despite the high costs and great troubles we go through to feed the birds, we are really missing out on a large segment of the bird species who put seeds lower on their list of favourite foods. A garden or areas of the garden dedicated to attracting birds naturally is an excellent way to experience a greater variety of birds in their natural habitat.

Cardinal in crabapple tree on the lookout for a caterpillar to bring back to the nest.

Ten simple steps to attract birds naturally

Design food islands throughout your garden
Plant native, berry producing shrubs and trees that provide food in summer, fall and winter
Ensure you have a selection of native flowers that attract insects and supply birds with seeds
Eliminate pesticides to save insects for insect-eating birds
Build a wood or brush pile in a corner of your yard
Ensure there are several sources of water available including on-ground pools
Create safe habitat for nesting birds with evergreen and thorny shrubs
Allow areas of the garden to go wild to maximize foraging areas for insect-eating birds
Allow fruit to rot to encourage more insects for birds
Slowly move away from a reliance on commercial feeders and bird seed.

In this post, I’ll take a deep dive into how we can create a natural, backyard bird-feeding garden, to keep the birds exploring our backyard long after most of the store-bought bird feeders and expensive seed are gone.

Poster shows native plants and berries that feed birds — This excellent poster was created by Justin Lewis and is best viewed on a tablet or desktop.

Convincing birds to come to our yards for reasons other than a large cylinder of sunflower seeds involves a multi-faceted approach that may require several years of garden design planning focusing on creating natural habitat, including islands of fruit, nut and seed producing trees, shrubs and flowers that serve a variety of bird species from warblers to woodpeckers. Fruit-bearing shrubs such as viburnums and serviceberries can be supplemented with seed-bearing flowers such as Black-eyed Susans, sunflowers and Asters. Of course there is an oak tree, dogwoods and evergreens in the mix for nuts, berries and nesting habitat.

Deciding on the best trees, shrubs and flowers for our natural backyard bird-feeding garden will depend a lot on where you live, the size of your backyard and how dedicated you are to creating a natural backyard bird feeder.

This post, however, will help to get you started by listing many of the best trees, shrubs, vines and flowers birds use as food sources, and what birds depend on these sources for food.

Ten best shrubs and trees to attract birds

Serviceberry (Amelanchier) Zones 4-8, Every natural bird feeding garden needs a serviceberry. Two or three are even better. I think at last count I had four growing throughout our woodland garden. What makes the serviceberry so important for birds is its early summer yield of delicious deep red almost purple berries. These provide an early feast for birds either just before or during the nesting period. A favourite in our garden of robins waxwings, orioles, woodpeckers, chickadees, cardinals, jays mourning doves, vireos and finches as well as red squirrels and chipmunks. The early spring flowers (early May in our area) attract an abundance of insects which birds are also attracted to as a food source. For more information on serviceberries, check out my earlier story here.

Beautyberry Bushes (Callicarpa Americana) Zones 5-8, If these shrubs provided no value to the birds, I would still grow them in my garden, they are that nice. But it’s their incredible purple berries that grow in clusters close to the stem of branches that make them such attractive little shrubs and is the draw for birds to your garden. These bright purple fruits are attractive to several birds that might not be regulars to your feeders including Mockingbirds, Robins, Brown Thrashers and Northern Bobwhites.

Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) Zones 2-7 is a suckering shrub or small tree that grows to between 3 and 19 feet and produces flowers in racemes followed by its fruit that can range from bright red to black. It is found naturally in the northern half of the United States and across southern Canada. Although the shrub plays host to tent caterpillars, it remains an important food source for native birds. For bird lovers, the tent caterpillars are an added bonus. The fruit of the chokeberry ripens from July through to October but doesn’t drop to the groun, instead remaining on the branches throughout winter providing a winter food source for up to 70 species of birds.

American Cranberry Bush (Viburnum Trilobum) and other viburnums zones 2-7 The American cranberry is a mid-size shrub (8-10 feet tall and wide) with its white clusters of spring flowers and stunning rusty red fall foliage is impressive in itself, but it’s the berries on this viburnum that make it shine. Viburnums can be grown as a shrub or small trees and is available in a number of species. Watch for, among others, robins, bluebirds, thrushes, catbirds, cardinals, finches, waxwings to visit your viburnums.

Blackberries (Rubus spp) If you have a corner of the yard you don’t mind giving over to the birds, the blackberry (although considered invasive in some areas) is an excellent choice. The thorny plants provide some protection for nesting birds and because blackberries begin fruiting in late spring and early summer, they provide a good food source during the breeding season. You can expect various warblers, orioles, tanagers, thrashers, mockingbirds,, catbirds and robins, among others to visit your blackberry bushes.

The Flowering Dogwood is a beautiful native addition to any garden but its real superpower is how many birds love to eat its berries, including Eastern Bluebirds.

Dogwood (various Cornus species) zones 5-9 Dogwoods are an obvious choice when it comes to feeding birds naturally. Although they are best known to humans for their early spring blooms, the birds are drawn to the many varieties for their abundance of high-fat content. Popular choices include the pagoda dogwood (Cornus Alternifolia), Flowering dogwood (Cornus Florida), and red twigged dogwood (Cornus Baileyi.) It is said that more than 40 types of birds feed on dogwood berries including bluebirds and other members of the thrush family, woodpeckers, catbirds, thrashers and mockingbirds.

Elderberry Sambucus zones 4-9 This fast-growing deciduous shrub is favourite in our garden for the abundance of purplish-blue summer berries that follow the plant’s clusters of white flowers in spring. The flowers also attract pollinating insects which also provide a food source for birds in early spring. The berries are a favourite of a number of birds including those hard-to-attract warblers, orioles, colourful tanagers, catbirds, thrashers, mockingbirds and waxwings. Although the native species are always best to plant, Proven Winners Black Lace and Lemony Lace hybrids are outstanding editions to any garden and can easily substitute for Japanese maples.

Proven Winners describe their Black Lace elderberry as having “intense purple black foliage that is finely cut like lace, giving it an effect similar to that of Japanese maple. Pink flowers in early summer contrast with the dark leaves for a stunning effect and give way to black berries if a compatible pollinator is planted nearby.”

It’s their Lemony Lace version that I enjoy the most in our garden. The same finely cut foliage is here but in a golden or chartreuse colour to lighten up your landscape. The large clusters of white flowers in early spring before the foliage emerges are followed by berries. And they are deer resistant.

Juniper Juniperus Zones 3-9 Junipers are key sources of food and habitat for wintering birds. Their thick foliage provides ideal places for birds to escape cold winds and offer both nesting habitat and fruit for many birds. They can be grown as a shrub or tree and attract everything from warblers, grosbeaks, jays, sapsuckers, woodpeckers, waxwings bluebirds, robins, thrashers bobwhites and even wild turkeys.

Chokeberry Aronia Arbutfolia zones 4-9 Is a favourite of many birds. Its rather unimpressive spring blooms give way to bright red berries in summer and into fall when winter birds such as Cardinals and woodpeckers

Holly including Winterberry Ilex Verticillata zones 3-9 Holly is an ideal plant to attract birds with its colourful fruit ranging from red to yellow, orange to black and white. Of the more than 400 species that range from shrubs to large trees, hollies are primarily evergreen. Some, however, like winterberry, are deciduous. These are excellent sources of winter food for birds. The fruit ripens in the fall and can last all winter into early spring where they can provide a source of food for migrating birds or new arrivals. You can count on the red berries in the fall and winter to provide a natural food source for birds such as Bluebirds, woodpeckers, catbirds, thrashers and mockingbirds to name just a few.

Pagoda dogwood flowers in spring before giving way to an abundance of black fruit that the birds can't get enough of in the summer.

Best flowers to attract birds

It’s easy to see the direct relationship between birds and the many shrubs and small trees discussed above. The birds are obviously attracted to the fruit and sometimes the seeds of shrubs and trees. Indirectly, the insects that might be attracted to the fruits also serve as food for the birds foraging in our gardens.

That relationship is often not quite as obvious when it comes to the flowers we plant in our gardens. Aesthetics is usually the driving force behind planting a particular type of flower in our garden. Their attractiveness to pollinators and, perhaps, hummingbirds is sometimes the motivating factor behind planting flowers, but rarely do we give a lot of thought to the birds the flowers may attract. Here are a selection of flowers that will bring birds into your yard in search of the food they provide in one form or another. Let’s examine them in more detail.

Aster: The New England Aster, often seen growing on roadsides and in open fields in scrub land, is a good example of an important food source for birds in our backyard. This herbaceous perennial that can range anywhere between 3 feet to 6 feet in height puts out its colourful blooms in late summer into fall making it an important food source for migrating birds.

Its yellow centre surrounded in purple rays makes it a colourful addition to any garden at a time when most other flowers are disappearing. That’s the secret to the flowers’ importance for our native birds. This late bloom provides many insect species with vital autumn nectar creating an abundance of activity around the flowers, in turn providing an important food source for insectivorous birds right before or during migration.

Don’t be surprised to find an intensity of bird activity in your yard right at the time you think the birds are heading south. If that does not convince you to plant this hardy plant, consider that the seeds of New England Aster are also a food source for many birds including the White-Breasted Nuthatch (see earlier post here on attracting nuthatches), Black-Capped chickadees and American Goldfinches. Other backyard birds that may feed on Asters or the insects attracted to them are Blue Jays, Juncos, Indigo Buntings, Cardinals, Eastern Towhee, Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds and the Titmouse.

Black-Eyed Susans: Similar to the Aster, the Black-Eyed Susan is a late summer/fall bloomer that is a magnet for insects and, therefore, a good food source for insect-eating birds. Ranging from 2 to 3 feet in height, the Black-Eyed Susan and its many cultivars, also provide birds – especially American Goldfinches – with a source of food throughout the winter months. It’s important not to cut the stems of these plants down in fall. Leaving them standing provides both interest in the garden as snow builds up on them as well as an easily attainable food source for birds foraging in winter when there are fewer sources available to them. Many of the same birds that are attracted to Asters also depend on Black-Eyed Susans for a late fall and winter food source.

Coneflower: Falls into the same category as the Aster and Black-Eyed Susans when it comes to a food source for birds. The Purple Coneflower, with its prickly centre disk, is a favourite of many butterflies which, in turn are favoured by insect-eating birds. In addition to many of the birds mentioned above, Purple Coneflowers also attract Pine Siskins and Mourning Doves.

Columbine: Our native columbine is a woodland favourite that we know is especially attractive to hummingbirds. The red and yellow coloured flowers of our native columbine (see earlier post here) are rich with nectar and an obvious choice for lovers of hummingbirds. This same nectar also attracts a host of insects in early spring and so provides another food source for insect-eating birds from warblers to hummingbirds themselves. The seeds of the columbine may also attract various finches, including the Purple Finch.

Sunflowers: It’s no secret that the best flower you could plant in your garden as a food source for a host of birds is the mighty sunflower. Considering it’s the number one seed in our feeders, it only makes sense that we put it on our list of must-haves in our bird garden.

When one thinks of sunflowers, however, the first ones that come to mind are the massive Russian mammoths that can easily grow to 10 feet in height with their enormous flowers giving off an almost magical feel to our gardens.

These big boys are a great food source, make the perfect landing spots to photograph the birds, and a fun addition to the garden, but consider planting the native perennial varieties of Sunflower as well.

The native perennial Sunflowers, often referred to as the Woodland Sunflower, is much smaller, attracts bees and other insects, including many butterfly species including Checkerspot and Painted Ladies. It grows to between 2.5- and 6-feet tall with a central stem that becomes branched where the flowerheads occur. The blooms can last up to two months in mid-summer into early fall.

These long-rhizomatous plants often grow in large colonies in the wild where they grow in full or partial sun. It can spread aggressively if left unchecked and seems to be happy in most soils including loamy, sandy or rocky areas. It is pollinated by a host of native bees and is host plant to a number caterpillars to native butterflies making it an important source of food for insect-eating birds. Plant it along your woodland edges in full sun alongside Black-Eyed Susans and Bee-Balms for a stunning display and an insect/bird magnet.

The list of birds attracted to sunflowers is too long to list but includes Downy Woodpeckers, Indigo Buntings, Pine siskins, Purple Finches and Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks.

Don’t forget vines

Vines can be an important addition to a woodland wildlife garden providing nesting habitat as well as a food source for birds in the form of berries and the insects that are often attracted to these berries. One of the most important native vines for birds is Virginia Creeper.

Virginia Creeper: If you do nothing in your garden, there is a good chance that you will eventually have some Virginia Creeper in your garden. We have it in several spots in our woodland garden either growing along the ground or creeping up large trees. There is a reason why Virginia Creeper is so prevalent – birds love its fruit and are quick to spread the seeds either in the wild or in our gardens. That’s a good sign and one that this is an important native plant to attract birds to our gardens.

This deciduous vine grows between 30 to 50 feet with a spread of between 5 to 10 feet. It blooms from May to August, but its magnet is the berries it produces in the fall. The berries are a favourite of a long list of birds but most notable are the American Robin, Brown Thrasher, Cape May Warbler, Cedar Waxwing, Eastern Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Eastern Phoebe, Scarlet Tanager, Yelow-Rumped Warbler, Pine Warbler, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, to name just a few.

Perhaps where many of us fall short in our attempt to attract the more unusual birds to our backyard is that we rely to heavily on providing food sources for our feathered friends, whether that is through commercial bird feeders or by planting an extensive array of native trees, shrubs, vines and flowers.

While food is a key ingredient to success, it’s important not to forget that birds are looking for a number of factors before they decide to raise their young in a particular area or backyard. By meeting as many of these needs as possible, we will be able to attract a greater variety of birds including those that are not normally common in backyards. Most of these more uncommon birds are primarily the insect eaters.

The following are important steps that, in addition to commercial feeders and planting native flora, will drive these birds into our yards.

I will not go into great detail here but, instead, urge you to explore my other posts on these important topics.

Build a wood or brush pile to attract wildlife

Build a brush or woodpile: Creating a brush pile in a corner of your yard can be a real draw for backyard wildlife ranging from small mammals, reptiles, amphibians and, of course insects. This in turn attracts the attention of birds, including raptors such as hawks and owls, in search of mice and other rodents – think rats - that might want to take up residence in your garden. I have two separate brush piles in our garden.

One is similar to an open compost of garden debris – branches, dried ornamental grasses, some fall leaves, mixed with spend soil from last year’s containers and hanging baskets – that is now well over 6-feet high and at least 12 feet in diameter. It is home to snakes, mice, chipmunks and who knows what else. I have seen a Cooper’s hawk in one of the branches above the pile just waiting for its dinner.

The other is more a traditional, very open wood pile made up of branches trimmed from out mature trees. I see it as a perfect home for a fox, groundhog or even a skunk although I have not seen any of those animals use it in that way to date. I do know that the top of the wood pile is a favourite spot for our red squirrels to sit and watch over the garden for predators.

For more on creating a wood/brush pile for a wildlife garden go here.

Adding several water sources is key for birds

It’s not enough to add a single bird bath to your backyard and think you’ve met the needs of every bird that might want a drink or bathe in your backyard. Birds can be fussy when it comes to bird baths and water sources.

A natural pond is always the best way to bring in a variety of birds, especially if there are no other natural bodies of water in the area, but many of us don’t want to get involved in setting up and maintaining a natural pond.

Instead, try setting up a series of water sources in your garden combining various styles of bird baths from traditional ones, to on-ground water sources and hanging bird baths.

Remember, though, not all bird baths are created equal.

I have written a comprehensive article on the best bird baths for your backyard. You can read it here.

Some are deep and preferred by larger birds, others are shallow and need to be filled daily but provide safe wading for smaller birds. Other bird baths can include a solar-powered pump to provide moving water.

On-ground water sources are often preferred by birds. We have a concrete leaf that gets tucked into pea gravel and is used constantly by everything from chipping sparrows to chickadees, but is a favourite of our resident chipmunks.

A solar-powered bubbling rock at the head of a dry-river bed provides moving water that birds, squirrels and chipmunks like to use daily.

We have even had a large hawk use one of our three large waterbowls as a bird bath.

By providing a host of water sources, birds can choose the one that they feel most safe. Taking a bath or even taking a drink can be a dangerous time for birds if predators are about. Providing a safe perching area nearby will allow them to case the area before committing to the bird bath as well as provide them an escape hatch if that is necessary.

For my earlier post on providing water for birds in your backyard, go here.

By combining some or all of these suggestions over time, I’m confident a greater variety of birds will find your backyard woodland/wildlife garden and choose to make it their home. Others will use it as one of their many stops on their daily routine and still others will drop down during migration to spend time in an area that meets their needs and helps them restore the energy they need for safe passage on their migration route.

Godspeed little buddies.