Native Plants that Attract Birds

May 31, 2011 by cnps2011

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Plant these natives to attract birds to your garden.

Don’t forget that insect eating birds will visit most of these plants when looking for spiders, gnats, flys, moths, etc.

Genus/Species	Part Used	When	Specific Birds
Acacia Greggii	Seeds	Summer	Mourning Dove
Atriplex species	Leaves/Seeds	Sum/Fall	Finches, Quail, Sparrows, Towhees
Abies concolor	Leaves	All-year	Blue Grouse, Red Crossbill, Clark’s Nutcracker Pygmy Nuthatch
Acer macrophyllum	Seeds/Buds/Flowers	Spr/Sum/Fall	Evening Grosbeak, many others
Acer negundo	Same as macrophyllum in all categories
Achillea borealis.	Seeds	Summer	Goldfinches
Adenostoma fasciculatum	Seeds	Summer	Goldfinches
Alnus rhombifolia	Nesting	Spring	Warblers
	Seeds	Summer	Pine Siskin, Goldfinches
	Buds	Spring	Cedar Waxwings
Alnus rubra	Same as rhombifolia all categories
Amelanchier alnifolia	Fruits	Summer	Many Species
Antirrhinum multiflorum	Flowers/Seeds	Spring/Sum	Hummingbirds & seed eaters
Aquilegia species	Flowers	Spring/Sum	Hummingbirds
Arbutus menziesii	Fruit	Fall	Band-tailed Pigeon, Varied Thrush, Long Tailed Chat
Arctostaphylos species	Fruit	Sum/Fall	Jays, Grosbeaks, Mockingbirds, Fox Sparrow
	Flowers	Late Win/Early	Sp. Hummingbirds
Artemisia species Leaves	All-Year	Sage	Grouse, Quail
	Flowers /Seeds	Spr/Sum /Fall	Towhee
Asclepias species	Stems, nests	Spring	Orioles
Aster species	Seeds	Fall	Finches, Sparrows
Baccharis species	Seeds	Sum/Fall	Finches, Sparrows
Beloperon californica	Flowers	Spr/Sum	Hummingbirds, Finches, Sparrows
Ceanothus species	Seeds	Sum/Fall	Quail
Cephalanthus occidentalis	Seeds	Sum/Fall	Ducks
Cercis occidentalis	Seeds/Flowers	Spr/Fall	Hummingbirds, Gold Finches
Cercocarpus species	Seeds/Leaves	Sum/Fall	Blue Grouse
Chilopsis linearis	Seeds/Flowers	Spr/Fall	Hummingbirds, Doves
Chrysothamnus species	Seeds	Sum/Fall	Finches, Quail, Pine Siskin
Comarostaphylis diversifolia	Flowers/Fruits	Spr/Sum/Fall	MANY SPECIES!
Cornus species	Flowers/Fruits	Spr/Sum/Fall	MANY SPECIES!
Cupressus species	Seeds	Sum/Fall	Red-breasted Nuthatch & others
Delphinium cardinale	Flowers	Spr/Sum	Hummingbirds
Mimulus (Diplacus) species	Flowers	Spr/Sum	Hummingbirds
Dudleya species	Flowers	Spr/Sum	Hummingbirds
Eleocharis species	Seeds/Culms/Tubers	Fall	Ducks, Teals,Geese, Scaups, Swans, Rails, Sandpipers, Snipe
Encelia californica	Seeds	Spr/Fall	Sparrows, Finches
Equisetum species	Stems/Rootstocks	All-Year	Geese, Swans, Waterfowl
Eriogonum species	Leaves/Seeds	All-Year	Finches, Juncos, Sparrows, Towhees
Eschscholzia species	Seeds	Summer	Quail
Forestiera neomexicana	Fruit	Summer	Quail, Robin, Other Fruit Eating Birds
Fragaria species	Leaves/Fruit	All-Year	MANY SPECIES!
Fraxinus species	Seeds	Fall	Quail, Finches, Grosbeaks, Cedar Waxwings, Wood Ducks
Galvezia speciosa	Flowers	Spring	Hummingbirds
Geranium species	Seeds	Summer	Doves, Quail, Towhees
Helianthus species	Seeds	Fall	Seed eating birds, Goldfinches, Bush Tits
Heteromeles arbutifolia	Berries	Winter	Blue Birds, Robins, Band-tailed Pigeon
Heuchera maxima	Flowers	Spring	Hummingbirds
Juglans californica	Nuts	Winter	Jays
Keckiella species	Flowers	Spr/Summer	Hummingbirds
Lavatera assurgentiflora	Flowers/Seeds	Sum/Fall	Hummingbirds/Seed eaters
Lepechinia calycina	Flowers	Summer	Hummingbirds
Lonicera species	Flowers/Berries	Spr/Sum/Fall	Hummingbirds, Towhees, Robins, Thrashers, Bluebird
Lupinus species	Seeds	Summer	Quail, Dove
Mahonia nevinii	Berries	Summer	Bluebirds, Thrashers, Robins, Towhee
Mahonia aquifolium	Berries	Summer	Thrashers, Robins, Towhees, Others
Malacothamnus species	Seeds	Fall	Bush Tits/Others
Mimulus species	Flowers	Summer	Hummingbirds
Monardella species	Flowers	Summer	Hummingbirds
Penstemons species	Flowers	Spr/Sum	Hummingbirds
Pinus species	Seeds/Bark	All-Year	Jays, Nuthatches, Many species!
Platanus racemosa	Fuzz/Seeds	Spr/Winter	Seed eaters, fuzz used by Hummers for nesting
Prunus species	Berries	Summer	Jays, many others
Quercus species	Seeds	Fall/Winter	Jays, Hummers, Many species!
Rhamnus species	Berries	Summer	Jays, Thrashers, Berry eaters!
Rhus species	Berries	Spr/Sum	Thrashers,Towhees, Many species
Ribes viburnifolium	Berries/Flowers	Win/Sum	Hummingbirds, Thrashers, Towhees
Ribes species	Berries/Flowers	Win/Sum	Hummingbirds, Jays, Thrashers, others
Rosa species	Hips	Sum/Fall	Thrashers,Towhees Jays,Others
Salix species	Insects/Catkins	All-Year	Many Species Use Galls
Salvia species	Flowers/Seeds	Spr/Fall	Hummingbirds, Seed eaters
Sambucus species	Berries/Flowers	All-Year	Many, Many Species
Scrophularia species	Flowers/Seeds	Spr/Sum	Hummingbirds, Seed eaters
Shepherdia argentea	Berries	Summer	Berry eaters
Sidalcea species	Seeds	Summer	Thrashers, Seed Eaters
Solanum species	Berries	Summer	Berry eaters
Stachys species	Flowers	Summer	Hummingbirds
Trichostema lanatum	Flowers	Summer	Hummingbirds
Washington Filifera	Dates	Sum/Fall	Cedar Waxwings, Others
Epilobium (Zauschneria)sp.	Flowers	Sum/Fall	Hummingbirds

Reference: Las Pilitas Nursery, with permission of Bert Wilson. Edited by Al Naydol and members of the San Luis Obispo Chapter of the California Native Plant Society.