Attract a flock of fruit-eating fruit-eating birds to your backyard with a tasty medley of berries, oranges and more.
Attract Birds That Eat Fruit
One reason so many birds love their beloved snack is that it gives them a big boost of energy. Often fruit helps when they need it most, like during spring migration when they’re traversing hundreds or thousands of miles and in winter when food sources are scarce. The benefits extend to backyard birders too, who get to spot fruit-eating birds.
“For me, the biggest benefit is attracting new species,” says Nick Lund, the author of World Without Birds: How to Save Our Planet, One Bird at a Time. “Lots of birds don’t regularly eat birdseed, so they’ll ignore your feeders unless you offer something closer to what they eat in the wild. Fruit is the best opportunity to get a closer look at birds like orioles, tanagers, catbirds, grosbeaks and waxwings, each of which will stay in the trees if birdseed is the only menu item.”
Other fruit-eating birds include American robins, bluebirds, cedar waxwings, gray catbirds, indigo buntings, northern cardinals, northern mockingbirds, pine grosbeaks, thrashers, woodpeckers and yellow-rumped warblers.
Try Oranges for Fruit-Eating Birds
Broadly speaking, any fruit that humans eat, fruit-eating birds will eat. With that said, some options are more popular than others. Oranges are often the go-to choice and are a perfect place to start. “It’s so easy: Just slice an orange in half and stick it on the end of a branch, cut side out,” Nick says. “For that minimal effort, you’ve got a great chance of attracting orioles, one of our most beautiful bird families, to your backyard.”
Although you don’t need a special feeder (sliced fruit on a platform feeder is just fine), many oriole feeders have sections for orange slices and a fruit-adjacent favorite, grape jelly. If you do offer grape jelly, make sure it has no additives or preservatives, and only set out a couple of tablespoons at a time to avoid spoilage.
Other Options for Serving Fresh Fruit
Other fruits to try for all fruit-eating birds include apple, blueberry, plum, pear and cantaloupe. Banana tends to attract fruit flies, which hummingbirds love. Dried fruit, like raisins and currants, takes longer for birds to eat than fresh and doesn’t spoil as fast, making it a good year-round option. Some birdseed mixes include small pieces of dried fruit; experiment and see what’s popular with your backyard crowd.
Attracting birds with fresh fruit isn’t complicated, but keep in mind that the fruit will also draw insects such as wasps and ants. However, this isn’t usually a big problem. “Generally, offering fruit to birds attracts about the same amount of insects as, say, a flower bed,” Nick says. Beware, though: Fruit spoils quickly, usually within a few days, so it’s best to remove old pieces of fruit before they get moldy.
Plant a Garden for Fruit-Eating Birds
An even easier way to attract birds to your backyard with fruit is to grow it yourself. Raspberry and blackberry bushes provide tasty berries for birds and humans alike in the summer, and species such as American robins, eastern bluebirds and gray catbirds flock to the branches of serviceberry bushes, dogwood trees and red mulberry trees. Keep the fruit coming in winter with American holly and mountain ash trees, both of which produce berries in the colder seasons. Cedar waxwings particularly like eastern red cedar, a type of juniper tree.
Fruit-bearing trees and bushes give pollinator populations a boost, as well as providing extra cover and nesting space for birds. Trees and shrubs that produce berries in winter also add pops of color during what can be a monotone season. You can’t really go wrong by including a native tree or bush in your landscape.
How Do Overripe Berries Affect Birds?
As the sugars inside berries break down, they convert to alcohol, and fruit-eating birds that eat the fermented fruit will quickly become inebriated. Signs of drunkenness in birds include disorientation and poor coordination. This isn’t usually fatal, but it can make them easier prey or poor fliers, with a risk of flying into solid objects. If you find a bird in this state, set out water nearby so it can hydrate and sober up.
