Are you bugged by bugs?

As the days get warmer, we see more insects and other squirmy critters in the yard. Some are beneficial to the garden; some aren’t. To birds, they’re dinner! Most backyard birds eat insects, along with seed or suet, because the little bugs are high in protein and easy to feed to nestlings. But which bird eats what?

A starling takes a potato vine larvae to its nestlings

Cardinal: beetles, crickets, katydids, leafhoppers, cicadas, flies, centipedes, spiders, butterflies and moths.

Chickadee: insects and spiders.

Tufted Titmouse: caterpillars, beetles, ants, wasps, stinkbugs, treehoppers, spiders and snails.

Mockingbird: beetles, earthworms, moths, butterflies, ants, wasps and grasshoppers.

Catbird: ants, Japanese beetles, midges, grasshoppers, caterpillars and moths.

Starling: grasshoppers, beetles, flies, caterpillars, millipedes, spiders, and both the adult and grub stages of Japanese beetles.

Downy Woodpecker: beetle larvae that live in wood or tree bark, ants, caterpillars, bark beetles and apple borers.

Carolina Wren: caterpillars, moths, stinkbugs, beetles, crickets, grasshoppers and cockroaches.

House Wren: beetles, caterpillars, earwigs, daddy longlegs and flies.

Northern Flicker: ants, beetles (gathered from the ground or from “cow patties”), flies, butterflies, moths and snails.

A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird catches an insect

White-breasted Nuthatch: weevil larvae, wood-boring beetle larvae, other beetles, treehoppers, scale insects, ants, gall fly larvae, tent caterpillars, gypsy moths, stinkbugs, click beetles and spiders.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird: mosquitoes, gnats, fruit flies and spiders. They can catch insects in mid-air or pluck them from spider webs.

Purple Martin: any kind of insect. As is the case with other members of the swallow family, they eat nothing but insects.

So there you have it: Insects can bring birds to your backyard the natural way. In fact, if your lawn service uses pesticides to kill insects or grubs, you are doing birds no favor. Pesticides are non-selective; they kill any insect or grub that comes into contact with the chemicals. Using pesticides may cause birds to move to other areas in their quest to find a wider range of food than seed from feeders.