That is really sad if you can't grow a Nanking Cherry. I have a whole fence row of them that are 30+ years old. Some of them are 7' high now.And of the Nanking Cherry shrub/tree, the golden raspberry, the blueberry and the blackberry bushes I planted, only the blackberries have grown.
I never saw a robin here until the first year they had cherries on. The robins showed up out of nowhere and cleaned them out in a few days. The robins have been here ever since. They claim anything (other than tomatoes) as theirs.