Bird Food

Fruit for Birds

Half an orange on a nail brings in birds that will never touch your sunflower. The trick is serving small amounts, in the right place, and taking the leftovers away before they turn.

Fruit does one useful thing that seed cannot: it reaches the birds that eat insects and berries rather than seeds. Orioles, catbirds, robins, waxwings, mockingbirds, tanagers and several woodpeckers will all take fruit at a feeder, and most of them will never touch a tube of sunflower.

The offering is simple. The management is not, because fruit in July spoils fast, draws wasps, and needs replacing every day or two.

Below: which fruit suits which bird, how to cut and mount each type, where to put it, and how to handle the mess and the insects that come with it.

Who eats fruit at feeders#

Note the pattern: almost none of these birds want fruit inside a tube or hopper. Fruit belongs on a spike, in a shallow dish, or on a platform feeder.

Oranges#

Oranges are the standard because they are visible from a distance, hold their shape on a spike, and hold juice that birds can drink.

Cut them across the equator, not stem to base, and press each half cut side up onto a nail, a dowel, or the spike of an oriole feeder. A cut side facing up holds the juice; a cut side facing down drains it onto the ground in an afternoon.

Two orange halves is a generous offering for one yard. In hot weather they need replacing every day or two, sooner if wasps have found them. Building the mount is a 20 minute job, described in DIY orange and jelly oriole feeder.

Grapes, berries and soft fruit#

Halve grapes so a smaller bird can manage them, and serve a small handful in a shallow dish. Do not put out a whole bunch: what does not get eaten in a day becomes a fermenting, wasp-covered lump.

Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and chopped strawberries are all taken, most readily by catbirds, robins and waxwings. Soft berries collapse fast in heat, so put out a tablespoon or two and see what happens.

Fruit that is slightly past its best for you is fine for birds. Fruit with visible mold is not. That distinction is the one that matters.

Raisins and dried fruit#

Dried fruit works well and stores conveniently, with one requirement: soak it first. Cover raisins, currants or chopped dried fruit with warm water for about 15 minutes, then drain.

Softened fruit is easier to swallow and carries water rather than pulling it out of the bird, the same argument that applies to dried mealworms. Chop anything larger than a raisin so it is not a whole mouthful for a catbird.

Robins, catbirds, mockingbirds and bluebirds are the usual takers. Offer a small handful in a dish, and clear anything left after a day.

Apples, pears and melon#

Apples are the most forgiving fruit to serve because they hold up for a day or two in heat without collapsing. Halve or quarter them, remove the core, and either spike them or lay them cut side up on a platform. Windfall apples from the yard, past eating but not moldy, are perfect for this.

Pears work the same way and go soft faster. Melon rind with a little flesh still attached is readily taken and is a good way to use what you would otherwise throw out. Banana works but turns to slurry in a day.

Do not serve fruit salad in syrup, canned fruit, or anything sweetened. Plain fresh fruit only.

Where to put fruit, and how high#

Fruit needs to be seen, which makes it the opposite of most feeder placement advice.

• In the open, on a spike, pole or fence post rather than tucked into a shrub. Color is the advertisement.
• 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 m) up for orioles and tanagers; low or ground level for robins and towhees.
• Near a perch, ideally a wire, fence line or bare branch within 15 feet (4.5 m), so a cautious bird can inspect it first.
• Away from the seed feeders. Fruit draws wasps and ants, and neither is welcome at a station where you refill seed every few days.

Squirrels, raccoons and deer all like fruit as much as birds do, so anything on a low platform is a night-time buffet. Take fruit in at dusk if you have raccoons in the neighborhood.

Spoilage, insects and heat#

Fruit is a two-day food in summer and a four-day food in spring. Set expectations accordingly.

Wasps and ants arrive within hours of the fruit. Wasps are mostly a nuisance to you rather than to the birds, and they thin out once the fruit is removed; the same deterrents that work at nectar feeders are in bees and wasps at hummingbird feeders. Fruit flies are a sign the fruit is overdue for replacement.

Scrub the dish or spike when you swap the fruit. Dried juice is sticky, it holds mold, and it is a much easier job wet than a week later.

Fruit through the year#

Interest in fruit is strongly seasonal, and mostly it tracks what is happening in the wild.

• Spring migration (April and May): the peak. Orioles, tanagers and grosbeaks arrive hungry and fruit is the fastest way to get their attention. Put fruit out with the first warm week, as covered in feeding birds during migration.
• Nesting season (June and July): interest drops as birds switch to insects for their young. Keep offering small amounts.
• Late summer (August): a second surge as wild fruit ripens and family groups roam.
• Fall and winter: limited value in most of the country. Robins and waxwings will strip a fruiting shrub, which is a better long-term investment than a dish; see native plants for birds.

A fruit setup that works#

• One orange, halved across the equator, on a spike 5 feet (1.5 m) up in the open.
• A shallow dish beside it for halved grapes and soaked raisins, a small handful at a time.
• A ground or low tray with apple pieces if robins and towhees are the target.
• Replaced every 1 to 2 days in summer, every 3 in spring.
• Dish scrubbed at each change, not weekly.

If orioles are the reason you are reading this, fruit is half the setup, and grape jelly for orioles is the other half, with the caveats that page sets out.