Plants That Attract Birds

Attracting birds to your yard is about more than just their beauty and their songs. Birds devour bugs and play an important role in the pollination of some flowers. By selecting the right plants, you can easily attract birds into your yard at all points of the year. To do so, pay attention to when birds feed on certain plants, and use plants that will provide food and shelter during different seasons. This list shows some of the favorite foods and cover plants of birds in our region, as well as when they feed on the plant.

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Key:

(Sp) = Feeds Birds in the Spring
(S) = Feeds Birds in the Summer
(F) = Feeds Birds in the Fall
(W) = Feeds Birds in the Winter

Trees:

Apple (S, F)
Cherry (S,F)
Crabapple (S, F, W – Some Varieties Have Persistent Fruit)
Hackberry (W)
Hawthorn (F, W)
Mountain Ash (F, W)
Oak (F, W)
Plum (S, F)
Redbud (Sp)
Serviceberry (S)

Evergreens:

Arborvitae (Food Source, W)
Balsam Fir (Cover)
Juniper (Food Source, F, W)
Pine (All Varieties, Cover)
Spruce (All Varieties, Cover)

Ornamental Grasses

Big Bluestem (F, W)
Blue Fescue (F, W)
Indian Grass (F, W)
Little Bluestem (F, W)
Northern Sea Oats (F, W)
Prairie Dropseed Grass (F, W)
Switchgrass (Many Cultivars, F, W)
Tuft Hair Grass (F, W)

Perennials & Ground Covers:

Baptisia (False Indigo, Sp)
Bee Balm (S)
Black Eyed Susan (S)
Coreopsis (S)
Joe Pye Weed (S, F)
Liatris (S)
Coneflower (S, F, W)
Sedum (F, W)
Strawberries (S)
Yarrow (S)

Shrubs, Small Fruits, & Vines

Barberry (W)
Bittersweet (W)
Blueberry (S)
Boxwood (Cover)
Buttonbush (S)
Chokeberry (W)
Cotoneaster (F, W)
Currant (S)
Dogwood (F)
Gooseberry (S)
Raspberry (S)
Rose (S, F)
Serviceberry (S)
Snowberry (W)
Sumac (W)
Viburnum (F, W)
Winterberry (W)

Scandia

St. Croix Falls

Stillwater

Plants That Attract Birds

Plants That Attract Birds