Each spring and summer, gardens, backyards and orchards across North America burst into colorful bloom, heavy with ripening fruits. Homeowners look on with pride as their berry bushes, apple trees, and other fare mature, ready to be savored.
One fruit in particular seems especially tantalizing yanking cherries, displaying jewel toned orbs dangling in clusters. Yet despite their appeal, homeowners may notice that birds not eat yanking cherries, raising the question of why this is the case.
Yet despite the veritable smorgasbord on display, discerning avian consumers remain conspicuously absent from this particular harvest. Not a solitary robin, cardinal or waxwing alights amid the branches to pluck a sweet cherry morsel. Their strange aversion begs the question why don’t birds eat yanking cherries?
The answer lies in understanding avian nutritional requirements, how dietary choices impact health, and the intrinsic properties of this tempting yet unsuitable fruit. Let’s embark on an in-depth exploration of avian diets, yanking cherry composition, and safer native fruits highly favored by backyard bird species.
Selective Avian Appetites Serve Vital Purposes
Birds are commonly observed hopping between diverse plant and feeder fare, sampling seeds, berries and more. Yet behind their surface frivolity lies a seriously discriminating palate. Every bird species depends on precise intake of macro and micronutrients for survival, outmatching predators, long seasonal migrations, territorial defense and reproduction.
Their specialized diets evolve through millennia to support specialized physiological adaptations like flight. Powerful pectoral muscles require protein from high quality insect, seed or nut sources. Endothermic metabolism sustains exceptional fat stores for insulation and energy.
Diverse vitamins and minerals underpin vision, strong bones and feathers, immune defenses, oxygen transport through tiny airways and more.
Bird watchers recognize well fed, colorful birds thrive where diverse native offerings grow in undisturbed habitats. But in manicured yards, judging nutrient profiles guides choices. While yanking cherries appear a colorful carb rich snack, macronutrient and micronutrient deficiencies doom this fruit as a sole food. Let’s delve deeper into avian nutritional standards.
Rigorous Nutrient Parameters Support Avian Health
Studies reveal protein comprises 10-25% of total diet by weight for songbirds, reaching 30% in seed eating finches. Calcium levels range 0.3-1.5%, essential for strong bones and eggshell formation. Vitamin A intakes fall within 200-2000 IU daily to sustain vision and immunity. Calcium , iron , niacin, riboflavin and other micronutrients must also meet concentrated guidelines.
Cherries simply fail to supply this breadth and concentration of nutrients. Their natural sugar content brings temporary calories but inadequate durable nutrition. Without protein, calcium, vitamins or minerals, long-term cherry diets jeopardize health, growth or survival through deficiency spawned defects. Nutritionally complete diets from native plants prove far wiser choices.
The Dark Side Toxicity Lurks in Cherry Pits
While yanking cherry flesh dazzles with flavor, their central seeds harbor concerning bitter almonds levels of amygdalin, a defensive compound. Under stomach acid exposure, amygdalin breaks down to release hydrogen cyanide (HCN), an efficient cellular poison interfering with oxygen exchange.
Our larger bodies safely process cherry pit HCN. But average yanking cherry pits enclose 20-30 milligrams of cyanogenic glycosides. Envision the peril for small songbirds consuming as few as 1-2 pits potentially delivers a lethal dose. Even sublethal doses may sicken birds, impairing foraging ability or leaving them easy predator prey.
Avian fatalities litter the ground around heavily fruited yanking cherry trees each summer, necks arched backwards in the telltale sign of cyanide poisoning. Autopsies confirm crushed pits or fragments in their stomachs. Weighing flavor versus toxicity risk, wise birds clearly avoid this inedible fruit.
Bird Safe Alternatives Abound
Thankfully, North America nurtures countless nutritious native foods welcoming to birds. Some classic avian approved options include:
Juniper berries – Rosy drupes pack antioxidants, vitamins and minerals sustaining sparrows through winter.
Dogwood berries – Scarlet kernels overload with carbohydrates, fueling cardinals until first snow.
- Elderberries – Orioles feast on these plump antioxidant jewels ripened by first frost.
- Native pin cherries – Robins relish their pale sour fruits, while too large pits prove nontoxic.
Birds extract precious calories and nutrients from melons , grapes , apples and other backyard windfalls. Conifer seeds and seeds of native plants like sunflowers, sedges and asters store fats carrying migrating flocks thousands of miles.
Nut producing trees like white oaks and hickories nourish permanent avian residents year-round. Backyard feeders stocked with high fat suet cakes or near seed keep species mingling near homes even in harshest months.
With careful selection of bird friendly native plants and supplemental feeders, gardens become avian oases attracting over 50 species by some counts. Rather than shunning properties, feathered friends flock to harvest nutritional abundance and refuge from wider habitat losses.
FAQs
Q: Can chickens eat Nanking cherries?
A: . If you have chickens – plant them a few.
Q: Why don’t birds eat yanking cherries?
A: The main reasons birds avoid yanking cherries are that the fruits lack sufficient protein and other key nutrients birds need, and they contain mild toxins in the pits that can sicken or even kill birds.
Q: What toxins are in yanking cherry pits?
A: Yanking cherry pits contain amygdalin, which breaks down into hydrogen cyanide (HCN) in a bird’s digestive system. Even one or two crushed pits can potentially deliver a lethal dose of cyanide to small songbirds.
Q: What fruits do birds prefer instead of yanking cherries?
A: Some fruits birds prefer that are healthy alternatives to yanking cherries include native cherry varieties whose pits are too large for birds to swallow, as well as berries like juniper, dogwood, elderberry, and sumac. Nuts, seeds, suet, and fruits/berries from trees and plants native to birds’ habitat are generally much safer and more nutritious options.
Conclusion About Why do Birds not Eat Yanking Cherries
Yanking cherries seduce the eyes but repel avian palates. Their decorative fruits camouflage lethal pit poisons outpacing nutritional merits. As such, birds do not eat yanking cherries, avoiding these inedible ornaments and seeking safer native fare supplying balanced nutrition.
Humans wishing to support birds year round can thoughtfully landscape with diverse native trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals offering nutrition dense fruits, seeds and cover across seasons.
Supplemental feeders stocked with high quality seed mixes and suet keep species merry during lean times too. By cultivating avian havens instead of inviting birds to eat toxic yanking cherries, gardeners please both esthetic and ethical senses treating wildlife as valued cohabitants.
By cultivating avian havens instead of yanking cherry gluttony, gardeners please both esthetic and ethical senses treating wildlife as valued cohabitants. Our feathered visitors reward such conscientious stewardship with vibrant concerts and fascinating behaviors to enrich all seasons.
