I wouldn’t recommend adding poison ivy berries to your diet, but this Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) seemed to be really enjoying them last Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Amazingly, poison ivy is a great source of nutrition to a variety of wildlife species. According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, a wide variety of “birds are especially fond of poison ivy berries. The plant’s waxy, white berries are loaded with vitamins and other nutrients. If that isn’t enough, they are available to south-bound migrants in mid-summer as well in winter when food is at a premium.”
It is incredible to me that such tiny birds can survive during the winter and finding nutrition like these little white poison ivy berries is one of the keys to their survival. Yellow-rumped Warblers eat mainly insects in the summer, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, but during the winter they switch to a diet of mostly seeds and berries. Can you imagine being a carnivore for six months of the year and a vegan for the other six months?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
This look like the perfect diet mix Michael. There are several animals that appear to be immune to eating poisonous plants. These berries are essential for these birds to survive the harsh winters without insects.