What Wild Bird Eats Grape Seeds?

Ruffed grouse are among the many birds that will eat the fruit-bound seeds of wild grapes.

North America is home to many species of wild grape, which tend to grow as tangled vines sporting palmate leaves. Their seed attracts a variety of wild birds--as do grapes presented by bird-loving homeowners at a feeder.

Upland Gamebirds

Wild turkey seek out fruiting grape vines.

Ruffed grouse, a timber-haunting fowl seen across much of the northern U.S. and down the chain of the Appalachians, feast on wild grapes and seeds. So do wild turkeys, one of North America's biggest native birds, as well as the nonnative but widespread ring-necked pheasant.

Songbirds

Blue jays and many other songbirds won't pass up grapes.

Cedar waxwings, American robins, northern flickers, tanagers, blue jays, juncos and mockingbirds, to name only a few, feast on grape seeds.

Catbirds

The gray catbird will nest in the vine thickets of wild grapes and other plants.

The catbird grape, a species native to parts of North America, gets its name from the gray catbird, a handsome relative of the mockingbird. Catbirds not only eat grapes; they also nest in the vine tangles.

References

• "American Wildlife & Plants: A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits"; A.C. Martin et al.; 1951
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology - All About Birds: Gray Catbird

Resources

• Northern Virginia Ecology (Fairfax County Public Schools): Wild Grape