There are many reasons to make your yard and garden more welcoming to birds. But here’s one more: pest control. Most backyard birds eat a combination of seeds, berries and insects.

A rose-breasted grosbeak

There are many reasons to make your yard and garden more welcoming to birds. But here’s one more: pest control.

Most backyard birds eat a combination of seeds, berries and insects. But in late spring and early summer, birds are busy filling the mouths of their hatchlings and baby birds like nothing better than freshly caught bugs.

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Below is a list of common backyard birds and some of the insect pests they eat. Next time you see or hear a bird in your yard, you can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that they’re on your side, helping you keep your garden healthy and looking good.

  • 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
  • Oriole: caterpillars, larvae, beetles, grasshoppers
  • Sparrows: beetles, caterpillars, cutworms
  • Swallows: moths, beetles, grasshoppers
  • Titmice: aphids, leafhoppers, caterpillars, beetles
  • Warblers: caterpillars, aphids, whitefly
  • Woodpeckers: larvae, beetles, weevils, borers