While we all enjoy watching birds and so would like to entice them to visit our gardens, there is also a practical reason why this is a good idea. As well as providing an excuse to stop and stare the birds will act as natural pest contollers by eating many unwanted bugs and insects. These three tips come from an article in the Horticulture Magazine which also offers a free Bird Guide ebook which you can download from their site.
You want to do all you can to attract birds to your garden because beyond being fun to watch and lovely to listen to all day long, they will rid your garden of many unwanted pests!
The male American Goldfinch grows vivid new feathers in spring.
3 Tips to Attract Birds to Your Yard
1 Grow seed-producing plants like black-eyed Susans, coneflowers and sunflowers
2 Let there be mess (as long as it?s safe)?insect-eating birds like chickadees, wrens and nuthatches love dead trees in which to make nests and to forage for insects they love
3 Add a water feature?a birdbath or even shallow bowls of water will make your feathered friends quite happyWhich Birds Eat Which Pests
Bluebirds: grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, larvae, moths
Cardinals: beetles, grasshoppers, leafhoppers, stinkbugs, snails
Chickadees: aphids, whitefly, scale, caterpillars, ants, earwigs
Grosbeaks: larvae, caterpillars, beetles
Nuthatches: tree and shrub insects such as borers, caterpillars, ants and earwigs
See more at Horticulture Magazine
