Birds that control insects

RustBeltCowgirl

Top 10 list of birds that are great for controlling insects in your yard.

https://www.homestead.org/gardening/top-ten-wild-birds-for-controlling-insects-in-the-garden/

ltwickey

Great article. I try to attract as many different species of birds to my backyard for many different reasons, but pest control is at the top.

One animal I am working to attract more of is bats. Me and my husband have been researching how to build bat boxes. Hopefully, in the next month or so we will have one ready to place in the tallest tree in the yard. They are mighty bug hunters and provide great fertilizer!

LaurieLovesLearning

We have many songbirds here. Unfortunately, we have way too many bully sparrows, starlings (invasive), and red winged blackbirds that have forgotten that their ideal home is in sloughs & marshes. 😕

I would like a purple martin house, and we used to have lots of vireos & barn swallows...and some bats. Now the first are gone & the latter are a pair or two...if we are lucky. I've seen no more bats. There are unfortunately just too many increasingly more harsh agricultural sprays being used lavishly here now. I think that is a lot of the problem.

Monek Marie

@ltwickey bat boxes work very well. We have lost many of our bats but we are still ok. In our area its cell phone towers that have hurt them.

Gourds work fantastic for Purple Martins

shllnzl

I watch all species of birds eating insects, including sparrows. Yesterday I watched a sparrow hopping up about 8 inches to connect with the blossoms on my sage plant. I also watch them climb my Desert Marigold flower stems to eat bugs from the flower petals. (Okay, I confess that the birds entertain me.)

I hope that the roadrunner is eating bugs instead of my lizards and small birds.