We have 3 Bradford Pear trees. They stay relatively small and are covered
with thousands of cherry size pears in the fall
when the leaves fall off. After they go through a freeze, the birds love
them.

Your Bradfords (a "sterile" variety) have begun to cross pollinate with
other "sterile" varieties introduced by gardeners, and have now become a
noxious, invasive old-field species all over the mid-Atlantic region. Just
look at the roadsides next time you go thru the DC area, and thank the
birds.

Please take no offense to this, but people / organizations doing releases
of novel species and cultivars for the amenity market really need to take
more responsibility for ecological imperatives that such releases create,
e.g. Loosestrife, Bradford pear, Norway maple, Ailanthus, etc. an nauseum.
ML
--
Mike LaMana, MS, CTE
Consulting Forester & Arborist
Heartwood Consulting Services, LLC
Toms River, NJ
www.HeartwoodConsulting.net