Caption
A Northern Cardinal brings bright color to backyard trees.
Want to attract more birds to your yard? Planting bird-friendly trees and shrubs that provide food, berries, and shelter is one of the best ways to create a thriving habitat. From cardinals and chickadees to bluebirds and robins, the right plants can bring color, birdsong, and life to your landscape all year long.
Top Trees That Attract Birds
Some of our favorite trees and shrubs include the following:
Dogwood Trees
Dogwoods are an excellent choice for birds. The ornamental flowering tree offers berries in the fall as well as nesting sites, attracting bluebirds, cardinals, catbirds, grosbeaks, robins, and thrushes. The red osier dogwood and gray dogwood are hardy deciduous shrubs that offer fruit with high fat content, which provides important food for migrating songbirds in the fall. They also act as nest sites and cover for the same birds, as well as vireos, kingbirds, juncos, warblers, and grouse.
Oak Trees
Oaks are another group of trees that attract many birds. We especially recommend the White Oak, a large tree that tends to produce an abundance of acorns. This tree attracts woodpeckers, jays, grouse, and wood ducks, in addition to providing nesting and cover for many birds.
Crabapple Trees
The crabapple is one of our favorite medium-sized trees, providing spring blossoms for insects, followed by fruit and seeds for birds. Choose a tree with smaller fruit, which are easier for birds to swallow. The crabapple attracts robins, bluebirds, thrushes, cardinals, waxwings, finches, and many other birds. It also provides nest sites and cover.
Eastern Red Cedars
Eastern red cedar is a tall, cone-shaped tree that produces fleshy, berry-like cones on the female trees. These are highly attractive to waxwings and other birds and also provide nest sites and cover.
Spruce Trees
Spruces are very tall evergreen trees with seed-bearing cones that attract warblers in the spring as the birds search for insects. Crossbills and seed-eaters are attracted to spruces in fall and winter, when they also provide nesting and cover.
Sumac Shrubs
Sumac is a wonderful shrub with red fall leaves and clusters of red fruit, which attract many birds, including bluebirds, thrushes, catbirds, cardinals, chickadees, robins, woodpeckers, and others.
Holly Shrubs
Holly is a hardy deciduous shrub with red berries that are highly valued by winter birds. Only the female plants have berries; consider planting several females and one male holly to attract robins, bluebirds, waxwings, and others.
Bird-Friendly Plants Chart: Trees and Shrubs That Attract Birds
Key:
- F = Food (berries, seeds, insects)
- S = Shelter (nesting, cover)
| Bird | Dogwood | Crabapple | Cedar (Red/Juniper) | Holly | Oak | Pine | Spruce | Sumac |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Jay | F/S | F | F | F | F | |||
| Cardinal | F/S | F | ||||||
| Catbird | F/S | F/S | F/S | |||||
| Cedar Waxwing | F/S | F | F/S | F/S | F | F | F/S | |
| Chickadee | F/S | F | F | F/S | F | |||
| Finch | F/S | F/S | F/S | F/S | F/S | |||
| Flicker | F/S | F/S | F | |||||
| Goldfinch | F | F | F | F/S | ||||
| Grosbeak | F/S | F/S | F/S | F | F | F/S | ||
| Junco | F | |||||||
| Mockingbird | F/S | F/S | F/S | F | ||||
| Robin | F/S | F | F/S | F | ||||
| Sparrow | F/S | F/S | F/S | F | F | |||
| Thrush | F/S | F/S | F | F | F | |||
| Warbler | F/S | F/S | F/S | F/S | F | F | F | |
| Woodpecker | F/S | F/S | F/S | F | F | F/S |
Click for a printable version of the chart (PDF)
Readers have suggested several other trees and shrubs that birds find attractive, including serviceberry, mulberry, northern bayberry, and nannyberry.
Most of these trees and shrubs are common across North America, but they may not work for every region. We encourage you to plant native shrubs and trees because they’ll thrive where you live and will also provide food for native insects and birds. In areas with non-native trees, insects decline, then birds decline, resulting in an entire ecosystem under strain.
Frequently Asked Questions
What plants attract birds the most?
Trees and shrubs that produce berries, seeds, and shelter—such as dogwood, oak, and holly—attract the most birds.
Do native plants attract more birds?
Yes, native plants support local insects and ecosystems, which birds depend on for food.
What trees provide food for birds in winter?
Holly, cedar, and sumac provide berries that birds rely on during colder months.
See more about creating a bird-friendly yard for our feathered friends.
American robins, members of the thrush family, like earthworms, grubs, and other insects, and some snails. They'll also eat fruit/berries. Fruit from trees, shrubs, and vines such as mulberries, serviceberries, elderberry, flowering dogwood, crabapples, junipers, sumac, holly, cherry, grape, viburnums, spicebush, and others will attract them. They'll also come to both platform and ground feeders. They typically nest in trees, although depending on the area of the country, they might build nests on the ground, thickets, in the eaves of homes, etc. When foraging, they like to keep near cover, such as a tree or shrub. Hope this helps!
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