In addition to local nurseries you could check out this great business called Edible Landscaping, which specializes in fruit trees. They're located in VA so most of what they carry will do well in our area. http://www.eat-it.com Juneberries/Serviceberries (amalanchier) are one of my favorite native fruits, and will do fine in some shade since they often grow in the forest. They have small red-purple berries with an edible seed inside. My husband says they taste like blueberries and I think they taste like Sweet Tarts (maybe I don't let them get all the way ripe!). The birds will love whatever you don't eat. I'll eat a pawpaw or two in the wild but the kerosene like aftertaste stops me after that, so I wouldn't plant them in my yard. Some people don't seem to be bothered by them though. Gooseberries and currants can also apparently take shade, especially afternoon shade (which side of your yard is the forest on?). Otherwise most fruit trees will do better in full sun. Figs THRIVE in my neighborhood in Takoma Park/Silver Spring. (There are so many trees within a few blocks of us, I have the theory that they're all cuttings off of one or two trees that have been passed around over the years.) I think the ones I like the best are Celeste, if I've identified them right. Animals seem to leave them alone, which is a major plus. You can dry whatever you don't eat fresh. If you've never had a fresh fig, there's nothing quite like it. I'm a huge fan. In general most folks I know seem to think apples and peaches are too high-maintenance to be worth it. I have a peach tree in my backyard that produces massive amounts of fruits but the squirrels like to eat them when they're green, so I get very few. It's kind of heartbreaking -- every year I see the number of fruits and my hopes are so high for good, fresh peaches, and it never quite comes out that way. We also have a pear tree that is not nearly as productive, but just as attractive to the squirrels. I have yet to eat a pear. I have a neighbor who grows plums somewhat successfully but loses a lot to the plum curculio bug. Mulberries grow pretty much as a weed tree in this area because birds eat so many of them and spread the seeds. I find them very tasty. You can easily feed yourself and the birds. You'd just have to stay on top of any seedlings that start coming up where you don't want them (especially along fences where birds perch). This year I have plans to plant a sour cherry. Birds are supposed to like them less than sweet cherries. We'll see. I'm also looking into Japanese persimmon. Blueberries also can do well here if you amend the soil to be acidic enough for them. You will have to fight the birds for them, too. Good luck!

I don't have direct answers to #1-3, other than probably none are the "best" for birds, since one would assume you want to support native birds. To do that best, use native plants that those birds would expect to find food from. Of those you listed, V. setigerum (not a native) is the only one that reliably has fruit on the plant through fall and into winter. Philosophically speaking, I think you deprive yourself of some great joy by predicting doom and/or gloom from VLB. This isn't a parallel situation to planting a shade tree that takes many decades to mature, fill in, and shade a site, only to be lost to DED, EAB, or ALB. Most shrubs (and certainly the viburnum species you listed first) perform and reward in very few years (1-5). Unless you expect to invest significant capital in the plants, you ought to go ahead and plant what you want to and enjoy the dickens out of them until VLB (if ever) shows up. By then, it may not be the scourge in MD that it is in upstate NY/PA. There may be a control for it by then, or it may never even arrive in MD. I'd vote for all the species you originally listed, with V. acerifolium and V. rufidulum as two more natives. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Hi catherinet - I think that's what it is given that I was told that an Osprey was fishing close to the wharf. Thanks for id'ing it! Shyamala

Our cats are indoors as well because it's safer for them and for the birds we feed and other animals as well. But, while outdoor cats certainly don't help matters, bottom line is that the decline of many non-human animal species, including birds, is directly caused by humans. Whether it's humans deliberately introducing non-native species into ecosystems (prime example, pythons in the everglades decimating many native species), polluting soil and water and air, dumping enormous amounts of plastics which also pollute, or ruining habitat to build yet more strip malls and walmarts to sell us crap we don't need, and lots of storage facilities to store all the crap we don't need nor have room for, we win hands down when it comes to destruction. Cutting down forests to produce cheap, disposable clothing (rayon, viscose, modal and lyocell is made from cellulose which is obtained from cutting down old-growth forests and is directly contributing to Orangutan and other species decline, soon to be extinction), cutting down forests/rain forests to accommodate the demand for meat and cheap palm oil for food and cosmetics manufacturers. And using pesticides on the lawns and plants and trees that kill all bugs, whether good or bad. And light pollution which kills millions of migrating birds by disorienting them and causing them to fly at night and crash into illuminated sky scrapers and other buildings. Personally, I have particular contempt for those who deliberately choose to not spay/neuter their pets (cats in particular who are often treated as disposable and dumped or left behind when people move or no longer want them) and therefore contribute to their overpopulation and negative impact on other species.