Out side my front door in Georgetown Tx:
CEDAR WAXWINGS eating YAUPON BERRIES
If you want to attract birds to your garden, the most important thing is to use your garden itself! Use native bird friendly-plants, see a list below! Birdseed is highly overrated and will only get you a few species; water, insects, native plants, and a lack of pesticides are the best resources you can offer to attract a variety of birds. Below are some slides from a presentation I give on the subject. Please scroll through these for ideas.
Planting bird-friendly plants is one of the best things you can do to help birds, not to mention help you attract them to your yard.
NATIVE fruiting shrubs are particularly helpful, but birds utilize all categories for food (fruit, insects, nectar, and sap), shelter, protection, nesting material, and more. Attract hummingbirds with Turks Cap, Flame Acanthus, Salvias, Texas Betony, and native vines. Let Virginia Creeper climb a tree and birds will love it!
Best Shrubs and Perennials:
•American Beautyberry
•Agarita
•Elbow Bush
•Flame Acanthus
•NATIVE Texas Lantana
•Texas Persimmon
•Turk's Cap
•Yaupon (fruiting variety, can be shrub or tree)
•Chili Pequin
•Giant Coneflower
•Maximilian Sunflower
•Carolina Buckthorn
• Coralbean
Best Large Trees:
•Live Oak
•Any other native oak
•Cedar Elm
•Pecan
•Hackberry
Best Small Trees:
•Yaupon
•Mexican Plum
•Texas Redbud
•Cherry Laurel
•Texas Persimmon
Best Vines (Great for Hummingbirds!)
• coral honeysuckle
• crossvine
• trumpet creeper
• snail seed