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Monday - April 02, 2007

From: New York, NY
Region: Northeast
Topic: Trees
Title: Native evergreen trees with highest value for birds
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

What native evergreen trees have the highest value for bird seed/fruit (other than Juniperus virginiana)?

ANSWER:

You could consider Ilex opaca (American holly), a non-coniferous plant. The red berries are used as food for birds and small mammals.

There are several coniferous plants available that are native to New York. Birds and other wildlife feed on their berries and their foliage. They are:

Picea glauca (white spruce) and Picea mariana (black spruce),

Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas-fir) and Abies balsamea (balsam fir),

Thuja occidentalis (arborvitae), and

Juniperus communis (common juniper), which grows as a low shrub providing berries for birds such as grouse, pheasants and bobwhites.

 

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