ded,
YOU can eat them - just don't let them get rotten first. With all the attention that pawpaws are getting right now, I figure it's just a matter of time 'til somebody gets on the kousa bandwagon. The pulp contained inside that leathery skin is fairly tasty - but you have to look out for the stony little seeds.
I've seen squirrels eat the fruits, but never birds.
Well I suspect that you've planted this tree in hopes that it'll bloom every spring - and usually, if they bloom, they set fruit.

I've had my kousa for probably 8-10 years and this is the first year that it has fruited to the point of nuisance. So far mine has not been reliable in its flowering. Some years it is covered, other years it barely gets a dozen blooms. I don't know if it's weather related, or what makes the difference.

Totally Confused

The inside of the berries kind of looks like mango. However, I have not tried one. I read that people use them to make wine. I would be happy if the squirrels would eat every one. There are a number of oak trees nearby and they seem to be busy eating the acorns now. Wouldn't you think they'd want a few berries for dessert? Maybe once the weather gets very cold the birds will come back for the berries. I notice that they do that on my neighbors flowering cherry. In fact, I have to be sure to put my car in the garage in the winter so it doesn't get covered with bird poop!

It did flower nicely this spring and the "flowers" lasted a long time. I guess the berries are the price you pay -- although they do look adorable.

Mine have never persisted very long at all -- they are too large and fleshy, and fall and rot quickly.

You can make a decent jelly from them -- I tried a small sample batch a few years ago, not too bad but had a little bitterness to it, probably would have been better adulterated with another fruit juice.

Here's a picture of some Cornus kousa berries in my garden.
I haven't eaten any.....yet.
Mike

{{gwi:432387}}

Monkey balls. Squirrels going for them is consistent with them being developed for mammalian dispersal.

Mike,
Sample some! Don't just pop 'em in your mouth - the leathery skin is not tasty. I just 'massage' the fruits, tear the stem out, and suck out the pulp. Tastes kinda-sorta like pawpaw to me, if a little grittier/grainier. Take care not to break a tooth on the stony little seeds.

Mike, mine all hang down, not stick up like yours. My tree is still fairly small and is loaded with berries. I am worried about what the mess will be like when the tree gets larger and even more productive. So far I have not seen the squirrels eat them, but I wish they would.

I have to say I am not tempted to eat them. I wonder if they could be dried. They'd make cute Christmas decorations.

They're delicious! I've eaten plenty. Like Lucky_p says, just suck the pulp out of the skin. The pips can be swallowed or spat out.

In China (where the species comes from) they are readily available in shops, and very popular.

Resin

We bought a house this year with a beautiful, mature Kousa just off the corner of the house - it had a wonderful (though fairly short-lived) bloom this summer, and it is now heavily laden with fruit. I'm not so fussy that I would normally care - but I have to say the falling fruit is pretty gross. You can't even really walk around under it or your shoes are pasted with slime, and they also drop into the gutters and create quite a mess. I even have fantasies of suspending some sort of netting next year - as crazy as that sounds. Would I cut it down? Sort of tempted but... nah. Would I plant one? No way.