Birds that help to control backyard pests!

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If insects are destroying your flowers, and bugs are enjoying your vegetables from your garden, you might want to try Mother Nature's solution - insect-eating backyard birds!  One bird can eat as much as 1,000 insects in a day, without any negative impact on the environment.  Insects make up a good portion of a bird's diet, supplying them with necessary amounts of potassium, protein, and fat to maintain their high level of metabolism.

During the late spring and throughout the summer, insects make up the majority of a bird's diet and help control pests at all stages of life, including the insect eggs, larvae, and adult bugs. Purple Martins and Barn Swallows can eat pounds of flying insects, like mosquitoes and moths, every day. Bluebirds prefer grasshoppers, ground beetles, spiders, crickets and caterpillars. Mockingbirds, chickadees, titmice, robins, and woodpeckers are also great insect eaters.

Once you know which species of insect eating birds are found in your area, you'll want to entice them to your yard whenever possible. The best way to attract birds is to have an inviting habitat. A source of water, either natural or provided with a birdbath, along with native plants that offer berries, seeds and fruit are a good start. And native plants harbor various insects the birds can use as food also.  Moving or dripping water often attracts a large variety of birds. Offering several types of nesting sites will increase the variety of birds coming to your yard as well.  Different birds require different types of sites, so dead trees, brush piles, ledges, and shrubs as well as manmade housing can all provide good nesting sites for a variety of birds. You may not need to provide everything the birds need.  Just remember the basics necessary for all life--food, water, shelter, and nesting sites. Then try to determine what elements need to be improved.  If you have a river or brook nearby, you probably don't need to supply water. But if you are in a new development, it's very likely that nesting sites are in poor supply. Just taking stock of existing habitat features and improving upon those that are lacking goes a long way in attracting these beneficial, insect-eating birds. 

Here is a list of common insect-eating birds that you may find near your yard,  Knowing more about birds and the benefits they provide us, gives us a better appreciation of our flying friends!

Chimney Swift:  These small, cigar-shaped swifts with pointed wings are found throughout the midwest and eastern states. They nest in chimneys, barns and hollow trees and are constantly in flight, searching for flying insects.  They eat  caddisflys, mayflies, wasps, bees and many types of beetles.  Welcome them if they nest in your outbuildings and leave dead trees standing whenever possible to provide natural nesting cavities.

Eastern Bluebird: The eastern bluebird can be found east of the Rockies. Eastern Bluebirds typically feed by dropping down from low perches to capture grasshoppers, arthropods and other ground dwelling insects.  They have good eyesight and can locate small food items from more than 100 feet away. Bluebirds take readily to manmade housing especially near water and along the wooded edges of fields and meadows.

Titmouse:  Titmice can be found in many parts of the U.S. They eat many insects including ants, caterpillars, wasps, spiders and spider eggs. Titmice will nest in manmade, enclosed houses and can also be easily attracted to your yard with feeders full of seed, suet and dried or roasted mealworms.

Purple Martin:  Martins can be found in the eastern half of the United States and begin their migration to North America from Brazil in January each year. Purple Martins feed almost entirely on flying insects, and it's an incredible site to watch them do their aerial acrobats in order to catch them. Martins feed upon the insects themselves as well as feed them to their young.  Martins like to live in close proximity to humans, but do require specialized housing.  Most Purple Martin landlords consider keeping martin colonies a labor of love, but well worth the effort.

Downy Woodpecker:  The downy woodpecker can be found throughout most of North America from Alaska to Florida. The Downy is the smallest and most common American woodpecker. It lives in a variety of habitats from wilderness forests to urban backyards. Downies eat fruit and seeds, but more importantly, they eat wood-boring beetles and moths, saving many trees.  And they eat ants!  Downies are easily attracted to feeders with peanuts and suet and will also nest in houses made especially for these small woodpeckers.  They also excavate nesting holes in dead or dying trees, so try to leave these standing whenever possible.

Gray Catbird:  Catbirds are found throughout much of the U.S. and enjoy habitats of thick brush and forest edges as well as wooded areas near residential areas.  They eat spiders, ants, beetles, caterpillars, and grasshoppers as well as black berries and wild cherries.  They also love suet and can be attracted to your yard by placing suet on a feeder where they can easily land to eat.  They can't cling well, so suet baskets made for clinging birds will be difficult for them to negotiate.

House Wren: The house wren can be found from southern California across southern United States to Florida. It breeds across the United States extending up to southern Canada. House wrens nest around houses, often in odd places such as flowerpots and mailboxes.  They eat insects such as caterpillars, flies, aphids, spiders, beetles, grasshoppers, moths, and crickets.  Attract them with birdhouses and suet on a platform feeder.

Chickadee: The various species of chickadees live throughout most of the U.S.  Chickadees hop from branch to branch eating the insects, larvae, caterpillars and spiders that it finds on trees. Chickadees are easily attracted to your yard by offering seeds, suet and water.

Eastern Phoebe: The eastern phoebe can be found throughout the eastern United States and Canada in spring and summer. Like other flycatchers, Eastern Phoebes feed mostly by scouting from a perch and then flying off to capture flying insects that it has spotted. Bees and wasps make up a large portion of their diet, especially in late summer. Phoebes frequently nest around residential buildings on a ledge under a covered porch or other sheltered area.

American Robin: The American robins can be found in all of the United States and Canada except for Hawaii and the northern most parts of Alaska and Canada. It is also found in parts of Mexico and Central America. Their main food is berries, supplemented by insects, larvae and worms. The reason we see so many robins searching for worms is because worms and cutworms are the main diet of the chicks in the nest; both parents are kept busy trying to feed their hungry babies every 20 minutes.  Robins can be attracted to your yard by offering nesting shelves, water and they also enjoy mealworms, either live or roasted, offered in a ground feeder.

Swallows:  Tree and Barn Swallows are common throughout North America. They eat only insects such as grasshoppers, beetles, moths and other flying insects. Barn swallows really do nest in barns!  Tree swallows will use a manmade nesting box, and prefer ones with oval openings that discourage sparrows and fit their wedge-shaped bodies.

Mockingbirds:  Found in the central, southern and eastern states, the mockingbird is highly territorial.  They have a lovely song in which they sometimes imitate other birds and frequently sing at night.  They eat crayfish, sowbugs, snails, beetles, ants, bees, wasps and grasshoppers.  They nest in residential areas in deciduous trees and shrubs.  You may be able to attract them with live or roasted mealworms or raisins on a platform feeder.

And there are many other insect-eating birds that may come to your yard when offered these same basics of  water, native plantings and nesting sites.  So, providing for one type of bird will often result in a habitat that is suitable for many other birds as well.  And as we become more aware of these specialized birds, we also learn to appreciate their value to the environment, our yards and also to love their beautiful colors and songs.

--Roxanne Brune

   

Duncraft, Inc.   102 Fisherville Road    Concord NH  03303

800-593-5656

 

To go to duncraft.com--click here

• Posted at Wednesday, July 22, 2009 08:52 AM
• In Wingtips Newsletter Category | Permalink