I have a special persimmon tree in my garden. An old Japanese
variety called Jiro, it
holds its fruit well into the winter and is a favorite food of
our mockingbird.

This year I picked all the fruit to eat myself, but on a
recent cold, blustery day I
threw a spoiled persimmon out the door into a thicket.

I was amazed to see that our mockingbird, within 10 minutes,
had found the fruit and
was greedily feeding on it.

That gave me an idea.

So a few days later, I put out a single persimmon on the edge
of our deck. As before,
the mockingbird quickly found it and began to feed.

Over the next few days, I added more fruits: cut oranges,
half a grapefruit, an apple
and a slice of pear.

My mocker has his preferences. Citrus fruits are very low
priority. A soft persimmon
was tops. Soft apples and pears were also good. A rotten spot
was usually favored as a
place to begin feeding.

So that gave me another idea. How about a fruit feeding
station for winter birds?

I maintained my fruit feeder on the edge of the deck for
several days but no other
birds came — only the mocker.

Joe Meyers, an ornithologist friend, tells me you can lure
bluebirds to a fruit feeder
with a special trick.

Cut branches of sumac bearing clusters of fruit (only female
sumacs have fruit.)
Arrange these branches so they will serve as perches near the
feeder. This will lure the
birds.

In winter, bluebird flocks frequent sumac groves to feed on
the berries. Once the
bluebirds come in, they will find the other fruits you put out
for them. Once they learn
where your feeder is, they will keep coming.

Try blueberries, raisins and finely cut fruits of larger
kinds. Joe suggests gathering
dogwood fruit in fall and saving it in the refrigerator for
winter feeding.

You can do likewise by picking and freezing blueberries in
the summer.

Put your fruit feeder near a wild, tangled thicket well away
from your feeder for
seed-eating birds. Mockingbirds are territorial and aggressive
and will drive other birds
away. No point having them defend a seed feeder, because mockers
don’t normally eat seeds.

Plant fruit-bearing trees and shrubs to provide other winter
food. American Holly is
good for this purpose. It may attract flocks of wintering robins
and cedar waxwings.

But expect your mocker to be selfish. He will do his best to
drive the transient birds
away and keep all the fruit to himself.

If you establish a fruit feeder, I’d appreciate hearing what
kinds of birds use it and
what fruits they prefer.

Send a note to Jeff Jackson, Extension Wildlife Specialist,
University of Georgia,
Forestry 4-404, Athens, GA 30602.