How to Bring Birds to Your Yard (and why you’d want to)

12 January 2009

There are more reasons to invite birds to your yard and garden than because they’re cheerful and pretty. They provide useful fertilizer and pest-control services.

Daily, birds consume up to half their weight in weed seeds, rodents, pests, and insects. They also pollinate flowers and scatter plant seeds.

Little overall land is reserved for wildlife, though, so the backyard garden is an increasingly valuable habitat for birds. But to get them to come, you need to make your yard inviting.

Encourage songbirds, woodpeckers, warblers, and hummingbirds to come by providing taller trees for nesting, shrubs for flowers and fruits, and clearings where they can hunt for insects and seeds. Hollow logs, bird houses, and a fresh water supply can also be inviting.

If you’ve got an outdoor cat, put a bell on it. Birds prefer sanctuaries that aren’t overrun by predators!

In the end, you’ll have more feathered visitors, and this will give you greater biodiversity, a lower insect population, and easier gardening.

Source: True Green: 100 Everyday Ways you Can Contribute to a Healthier Planet