Parthenocissus quinquefolia · Vitaceae

Virginia Creeper for Birds

Virginia creeper is the native vine with the longest bird list on this site: the Wildflower Center records its fruit feeding birds through the winter, including chickadees, nuthatches, mockingbirds, catbirds, finches, flycatchers, tanagers, swallows, vireos, warblers, woodpeckers and thrushes ¹.

The growing facts below come from the Wildflower Center's record for Parthenocissus quinquefolia ¹; the native-plant case is Audubon's ².

Virginia creeper — five-leaflet Parthenocissus foliage turning red, with berries birds eat through winter — Photo: Ragesoss, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

What Virginia creeper looks like

A woody deciduous vine, high-climbing or trailing 3–40 feet, that climbs by tendrils with adhesive discs that fasten to bark or rock ¹. Leaves have five leaflets (occasionally three or seven) radiating from the petiole, coarsely toothed, turning brilliant mauve, red and purple early in fall; flowers are small and greenish in May–June, and the fruit is bluish, about a quarter inch ¹. It is often confused with poison ivy, which has three leaflets ¹.

What the vine does for birds

Fruit for birds through the winter — chickadees, nuthatches, mockingbirds, catbirds, finches, flycatchers, tanagers, swallows, vireos, warblers, woodpeckers and thrushes — and a larval host for several sphinx moths: Abbott's, Pandora, Virginia Creeper and White-lined ¹. Those caterpillars are what native plants uniquely supply to nesting birds ².

The berries are highly toxic to people and may be fatal if eaten, and the plant's tissues contain raphides that irritate some people's skin ¹.

Native range and growing conditions

Native from Quebec and Ontario south to Florida, west to southeastern Minnesota and Texas, and on to Guatemala, in zones 5 to 11; habitats run from chaparral and open woodlands to shaded woods and streamsides ¹. It tolerates most soils and climatic conditions — sun to shade, low water, moist well-drained soils of any texture — and works as a climbing vine or a ground cover; the structure it climbs is the limiting factor on size ¹.

Planting it for birds: native range and care

Check the native range before buying: the Wildflower Center record for this species lists the states and provinces where it occurs naturally ¹, and Audubon's zip-code native plant database narrows that to your area and the bird groups each plant attracts ². Once established, native plants generally need little maintenance and far less water than lawn, and they do not need the pesticides that make a yard poor bird habitat ².

Native plants are those that occur naturally in the region where they evolved, and Audubon calls them the ecological basis on which birds depend: without them and the insects that co-evolved with them, local birds cannot survive ². The scale matters — a native oak supports over 500 species of caterpillars where a ginkgo hosts five, and it takes more than 6,000 caterpillars to raise one brood of chickadees ². Most nursery landscaping plants are alien species, so choosing natives is the single landscaping decision with the clearest effect on bird populations ².

Birds this plant supports

Plants for american robins →Plants for northern cardinals →Plants for blue jays →american robin profile →northern cardinal profile →blue jay profile →

More plant guides

Cardinal Flower →Trumpet Honeysuckle →American Elderberry →Canadian Serviceberry →Flowering Dogwood →Winterberry →Common Sunflower →Purple Coneflower →Native plants for birds →Berry plants for birds →Seed plants for birds →Nectar plants for birds →Shelter plants for birds →

Frequently asked questions

Which birds eat Virginia creeper berries?

Chickadees, nuthatches, mockingbirds, catbirds, finches, flycatchers, tanagers, swallows, vireos, warblers, woodpeckers and thrushes, through the winter ¹.

Are the berries poisonous?

The berries are highly toxic to people and may be fatal if eaten; tissues can irritate skin ¹.

How do I tell Virginia creeper from poison ivy?

Virginia creeper has five leaflets (occasionally three or seven); poison ivy has three ¹.