Ten Birds That Help Control Garden Pests

[digitS']

New, online magazine article, Ten Birds That Help Control Garden Pests:

Purple Martin
Red-Eyed Vireo
Chipping Sparrow
Downy Woodpecker
Yellow Warbler
Eastern Bluebird
Common Nighthawk
Eastern Phoebe
Baltimore Oriole
House Wren

Purple Martin - wish I had them
Red-Eyed Vireo - I can never see these guys well enuf to identify but there are vireos
Chipping Sparrow - well there are plenty of these here
Downy Woodpecker - I don't see these out of the forested areas, have I been missing something in the garden?
Yellow Warbler - various warblers including Audubons warbler in little flocks.
Eastern Bluebird - I don't get to see many bluebirds these days, despite the Mountain Bluebird being Idaho's state bird
Common Nighthawk - I am fascinated by the flying ability of these guys but it looks like they are mostly after skeeters, maybe.
Eastern Phoebe - well, I don't think that it's the "eastern" here.
Baltimore Oriole - these have to be important insect killers but it is the Bullock's oriole that I (not very often) see.
House Wren - the Winter Wren seems more common in my neck of the woods but not in my garden

And, where is the Song Sparrow on this list? They get right down and work their way thru the plants. They may be the most common bird I see in my garden.

Do you have bird helpers in your garden?

Steve

 

[wifezilla]

Yes

DUCKS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1II1xSnfmo

 

[vfem]

Oh I have a ton of helpful birds... quite a few from your list as well!

We of course have our chickens and ducks. As we live near water it attracts a huge range of birds to help control bugs, however... living near water and a wooded area does give us a lot more bugs then most people are accustomed to.

I have to say, I enjoy the fact I see bluebirds around again here... by the dozens even. I don't even have to put out a bird feeder to attract anything, my yard is full and blessed.

 

[digitS']

I think our problem with bluebirds is that they like to sit in trees and "swoop" down on butterflies and such on the ground. (Funny how one of our prettiest birds eats butterflies :/. Maybe, it is a trade-off thing .)

The problem with sitting in a tree and swooping down onto flat ground is that it sounds rather like a yard setting . . . and there are our house cats . . . !

I suspect that they don't get caught very often but it must limit their use of the environment.

In one garden close to tall evergreens, the nuthatches "work" the trees unmercifully looking for bugs. Sometimes, there are Brown Creepers that show up too. And, of course, the chick-a-dee, dee, dee, dee's!

Steve

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Interesting, but yeah I don't see very many of those birds here either.

I'd like to add -- BARN SWALLOW!!! These guys are awesome. They swoop around all day (mostly over the garden, now that it is there) and gobble up air-born insects.

On a side note, there are certain wasps that are good at ridding your garden of aphids.

 

[Beekissed]

Great list! Do barn swallows help at all?

I have several of these types of birds around but my garden is pretty exposed and it has dogs and chickens running round outside the perimeter.....I'm wondering if the birds will actually go there.

I know the yellow finches will when the sunflowers ripen!

 

[DrakeMaiden]

My barn swallows seem to keep mosquitos, and the like, down. They spend all day with us gleening insects out of the air. I have no idea what all they catch or how many are bugs that would be hard on the garden, per se, but the odds are they are helping. At the very least, they are keeping the mosquito population in check.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

A garden writer/photographer wrote a blog entry about barn swallows and it says, among other things:

They are voracious insectivores, swooping and diving around the lawn mower as it scares up the insects. Apparently, barn swallows are quite effective at reducing insect pest populations - definitely my kind of bird.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Another source says barn swallows will destroy "hundreds of garden pests a day, and at dusk they sweep the skies for mosquitoes."

 

[DrakeMaiden]

The nice thing about barn swallows is that they do like open spaces, because it makes it easier for them to circle around for bugs. They don't seem to mind the animals on the ground, either. They move way too fast for most cats to even consider pursuing.

If you want to attract barn swallows, it helps to have a barn or other building that is not fully sealed to the outside. I guess they are losing habitat because people are tearing down old barns and building tightly constructed barns these days (no gaps for the birds to fly into).

I really enjoy having the swallows around. They tend to nest in the same nests every year, so while the area below the nests can get very messy, at least you can predict where they will nest year in and year out and not store stuff in the line of fire, so to speak. LOL