14 Charming Photos That Showcase the Beautiful Bonds Between Birds and Native Plants

A Wooden Duck chomping on acorns. A migrating warbler resting amongst sagebrush. A wren constructing its nest inside the spiky fortress of a cactus. These are only a few of the methods native vegetation help birds all through their life cycles and throughout generations. With their seeds, berries, and branches, they supply meals and shelter for birds of all styles and sizes, from massive herons to tiny hummingbirds.

The next pictures provide an exquisite window into the numerous methods native vegetation help avian life. They’re drawn from the 2025 Audubon Images Awards within the Vegetation for Birds class, which illustrates how the survival of birds and native vegetation are intertwined, and the way these connections typically help the well being of whole ecosystems.

As you flick thru this gallery, we invite you to replicate on the important roles native vegetation play within the lives of your native birds. (It’s an train you may as well apply to the 2025 photo contest winners, in addition to the top 100 images.) And should you’re impressed to assist birds by planting native vegetation in your yard, ensure to take a look at Audubon’s native plant finder to study which species are greatest suited on your area.

Cactus Wren on Cholla (above)

Cholla is a cactus present in a lot of the Southwest whose spines stubbornly connect to fur, pores and skin, or clothes. Though these vegetation can show painful for individuals, Cactus Wrens are proper at residence among the many cholla. They typically perch atop a cactus to scan the horizon or, within the case of this fowl, construct their nests inside its barbed limbs. Photographer Michael Madding watched this wren in Texas collect small branches and disappear inside the cholla, the place it constructed a spherical, football-size nest in preparation for the breeding season.

American Robin on American Holly

The American holly, or Christmas holly, is understood for its verdant spiky leaves and vibrant berries, which photographer Tamara Berman Ishee planted in her North Carolina yard as a meals supply for winter birds. The evergreen tree is an ideal attractant for the American Robin, a species that gulps down the berries in preparation for colder climate, for the reason that holly’s attribute crimson fruits ripen across the first frost in fall. The 2 species assist one another: The holly’s berries nourish the robin, and the robin disperses the tree’s seeds.

Gilded Flicker on Saguaro

The towering, tree-like saguaro cactus is an emblem of the Sonoran Desert. These hardy succulents can develop over 40 toes tall and are a key a part of the desert ecosystem. Their tall arms provide good vantage factors for birds, their flowers and fruits present candy treats within the desert warmth, and their stalks function locations for animals to shelter and nest. The Gilded Flicker, a desert specialist, isn’t any exception, because it nests primarily in holes within the saguaro cactus. These two feminine glints, captured by photographer Sean McEntee in Arizona, squabble above a saguaro—presumably a territorial dispute.

Anna’s Hummingbird with Arroyo Willow

Throughout a lot of the West, the late-spring air fills with the fluff of the arroyo willow because the tree sheds its cottony seeds. For the Anna’s Hummingbird, the white puffs are an excellent supply of fabric for constructing tiny nests—a habits that photographer James Nelson captured on this picture from Arizona. Feminine hummingbirds make their nests by weaving collectively plant fibers, gluing the strands with sticky spider webs, and lining the cup with fluff or down feathers. The birds additionally generally place lichen on the skin of the nest to assist it mix into its environment.

Acorn Woodpecker with Oak

This male Acorn Woodpecker, photographed in California by Lee Greengrass, is leucistic, that means that a few of its pigment cells now not produce shade. Its hanging white plumage, nevertheless, will not be a damper on its food-gathering abilities. Over the course of a number of visits, Greengrass watched this fowl fastidiously are inclined to its cache of acorns, often known as a granary. To create these stockpiles, Acorn Woodpeckers drill hundreds of holes right into a tree and stuff the nuts into them, offering meals for his or her household throughout the winter.

Purple-winged Blackbird on Cattail

In the event you’ve visited a marsh, you’ve in all probability seen the tubular constructions of cattails standing tall on the shore. However you may need missed one of many options that make these vegetation so useful for birds: Hiding inside a cattail’s attribute corndog-like flower head are, on common, a whopping 220,000 seeds. Every one has silky hairs connected to it, serving to the seed to catch the wind and colonize different elements of the marsh. This fluffy materials is well-liked for fowl nests, and the seeds themselves present an excellent snack for overwintering birds like this feminine Purple-winged Blackbird, as captured in Virginia by Julie Davis.

Wooden Duck on California Dwell Oak

In lots of elements of North America, acorns are a significant a part of the Wooden Duck’s weight-reduction plan. This male, photographed by Benjamin Martin Mortimer, is chowing down on the acorns of the California stay oak—greater than 15 of them in a single sitting, by Mortimer’s rely. Also referred to as coast oaks, these extraordinary bushes have a recognizable gnarled cover and kind the premise of the oak woodlands discovered alongside California shorelines. They not solely help a variety of species, but in addition can stay properly previous 250 years.

Black-capped Chickadee on American Purple Pine

With its rufous bark and lengthy needles, crimson pine is a well-recognized evergreen tree that may be discovered throughout a lot of northeastern North America. Its seeds, nestled in dense cones, are a favourite of seed-eating birds like finches, crossbills, and chickadees. Photographer Linda Scher captured this Black-capped Chickadee feasting on pine seeds in South Dakota. Chickadees have the flexibility to acrobatically forage and dangle the other way up from branches, serving to people like this fowl entry hard-to-reach seeds.

Northern Harrier with Cattail

Northern Harriers can typically be seen hovering above cattail meadows, the place they use their eager listening to and owl-like facial disk to triangulate the presence of prey. Photographer Eileen de la Cruz thought she was observing this habits when she noticed this feminine Northern Harrier dive-bombing the bottom in Washington State. However to her shock, the raptor emerged with talons stuffed with cattail fluff. What the fowl was as much as stays considerably mysterious, since de la Cruz took this photograph in October—properly exterior the breeding season—and Northern Harriers are inclined to desire cattail stalks or different grasses to assemble their floor nests.

Northern Yellow Warbler on Sagebrush

Sagebrush is among the most necessary vegetation of the American West. The spiny, aromatic shrub kinds the inspiration of the sagebrush steppe, an ecosystem discovered nowhere else on this planet that’s residence to iconic species just like the Better Sage-Grouse and pronghorn. Sagebrush additionally helps many migratory birds as they cross by means of these arid areas between their breeding and wintering grounds. Such was the case for this Northern Yellow Warbler photographed by Joanie Christian in Wyoming. The plant gives shelter and shade and harbors bugs that these warblers want for refueling.

American Goldfinch on Sunflower

Don’t despair when sunflower heads start to dry up and droop: It’s an indication that the plant’s seeds are ripening and can quickly appeal to all types of songbirds on the lookout for a scrumptious snack. On this picture, photographer Joanie Christian—sure, two of her pictures landed on this listing—noticed a flock of American Goldfinches descending on the sunflowers on her property in jap Washington. These birds feed nearly solely on seeds and are masters at discovering and dissecting ripened seeds from messy sunflower heads.

Nice Blue Heron on Longleaf Pine

Nice Blue Herons typically construct their nests in massive evergreen bushes, and this stand of longleaf pines in Florida helps an energetic colony. Photographer Mahmud Mohamed noticed 12 herons on this grove, the place the birds had been combating to pair up in preparation for the breeding season. The male, pictured right here along with his wings outstretched, was lacking part of his leg, however managed to win the feminine’s consideration by presenting her with branches as nuptial presents. The pair constructed their big platform nest among the many tree’s supportive branches.

Purple-winged Blackbird on Cattail

A lot of the Purple-winged Blackbird’s life cycle relies on cattails. They nest in these tall grasses and feed on insect larvae discovered on the plant. Within the winter, cattails themselves change into an necessary meals supply. Photographer Elyse Jankowski watched as this feminine Purple-winged Blackbird in Florida pecked at a single cattail seed head till it burst open. The fowl pulled free and ate up the seeds, a nutrient-dense snack that helps the blackbird throughout colder months.

Pied-billed Grebe with Eelgrass

Photographed by Craig Bamm alongside Michigan’s Lake Erie shore, this Pied-billed Grebe holds a bundle of freshwater eelgrass, or wild celery, an aquatic plant of nice ecological significance. Within the Nice Lakes, eelgrass kinds lengthy, flowing meadows that present necessary habitat for younger fish and are a meals supply for diving geese like scaup. This grebe, nevertheless, will not be consuming the eelgrass. As an alternative, it’s utilizing the clump of vegetation to construct the floating nest platform for its eggs and younger.