I have several nandina bushes that were here when we bought the house. The birds never touch the berries, but they still sprout up every where.

Terry,

This post isn't about berries the birds won't eat at all, but I know I read somewhere that it's good to have berries which are edible to the birds, but not their favorites, so there's something for them in the winter if needed. I've heard Aronia (chokeberry) mentioned as a plant like this.

Lori

I think it does depend on ones yard. I know I heard that birds will not eat Aronia unless there is nothing else but around here the birds scarf up the black Aronia berries as soon as they get ripe. And its not as if there aren't lots of other fruiting shrubs for them to pick from. Now the red Aronia is never eaten except in winter as a last resort.

I believe it's the red Aronia I have (which I also think the Latin name has been changed). I bought it because I read that they eat the red one and not the black. Mine has yet to bloom, just bought this spring at a native sale with not much to it, so I can't comment on the fragrance. But I went to another native sale that had the black ones and they smelled heavenly. And of course I went on a day that was for pick-up only. Since it was about a 2 hour drive, no way was I going back the next to buy myself one!

I guess I should of worded my initial post differently and added in what berries do you find that your birds don't eat, but you have knowledge that they eat them somewhere else or something to that effect...because as Rita pointed out, there are berries that maybe the birds in my back yard won't eat, but they eat them in somebody else's.

I have a decent row of red raspberries that my sister gave me and they produce like crazy year after year. We live near a heavily wooded area and it strikes me as odd that none of the many birds that we have eat them. Anyone know why?

Robin, I have the same experience. I grow raspberries, both red and gold, and the birds hardly touch them. Occasionally I will find a couple of the berries "sampled" and the rest untouched. We have grown blackberries for much longer, and the birds will eat them all before we can even get one. But I planted raspberries two years ago, and they haven't even taken a single full berry. The rabbits and foxes won't either, even though the rabbits will go for the leaves in the spring and canes in the winter. My only guess would be the color; maybe the abundance of pokeweed and wild blackberries as the most prominent berries means that the wildlife thinks raspberries are never ripe. I wonder if they would go for black raspberries?