Regarding elderberries, I can relate. I landscaped our three acre yard for the birds and critters as we are avid bird watchers. We are a designated Illinois Acres for Wildlife habitat and I'm certified as a National Wildlife Habitat property.
I bought cut-leafed elderberry plants for the birds and we have several huge heads of the old native elderberries...the birds adore them and strip all the berries in no time. June berries are another much loved planting the birds go nuts over here. I always chuckle and say momma cardinal is incubating the June berries to ripen them sooner. She camps in the bushes days ahead of ripening so she can get them first. They eat them when just a dab of color appears.
American hollies are a huge food source for birds in winter. I planted three trees and they are huge now. Birds won't eat the berries until a hard freeze or two have occurred. These have to be planted in threes for pollination. Even the male tree has a few berries each fall/winter.
For 18 years, we counted birds for Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Project Feeder Watch and we had 58 cardinals on many of our winter counts. They look like Christmas ornaments about 4 o'clock each evening when they gather in our fruit and pine/spruce trees for their evening feedings at the feeders. Husband says we have 10-15 pair nesting in summer here. We have 10+ acres of mowed farm field and a 15 acre woods so there is plenty of room for them to nest. We enjoy seeing the parents bring in their new babies to show them the feeders and how to search for foods on their own.
Blueberries have to have bird netting over them here for us to get any of them.
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