I’ve chronicled my love of Shad or Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) trees and their flowers and fruit as well as my rivals for the fruit, the local birds. Not many people eat the berries but I find them to have a delicious and unique flavor.
As the Shad fruit has ripened the birds include not only Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) but also Hairy (Picoides villosus) and Downy Woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens) and Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus)! Tough competition for a few berries.
The birds have been so busy on the two larger trees, they have thus far left a new, smaller one alone. The fruit is both beautiful and delicious!
Shad are quick to shed some leaves starting even in early summer. The leaves are a stunning shade of yellow-orange before they drop. By fall many leaves are gone but there are still plenty to give me another reason this tree one of my favorites.
When I end up with a handful or two, I’m happy and the birds are too!
Still Learning To See 
That’s a great handful! I think your shad is the same thing as serviceberries, which I remember picking one year. I made the AWFUL mistake of using them in a pie instead of just enjoying them right away. They have such a delicate flavor that they didn’t LIKE being in a pie alas.
Great that you’re sharing them with such wonderful birds–the cedar waxwing is one of my favorites 🙂
Yes, Shad and Serviceberry are one in the same. I agree they probably would not make a great pie!