11 Backyard Birds You Didn’t Know Were Essential to Your Ecosystem

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Most people don’t notice backyard birds as they flit through trees, build nests, and chirp away at the crack of dawn. Yet these little guys have an extraordinary role within your own backyard. From pest control to plant pollination, everything is connected by their actions, and they influence the health of the ecosystem. Understated as they may be, they deserve a standing ovation for their ecological contributions.

What follows is a look at eleven of the most fascinating backyard birds that you may never have heard of but whose work behind the scenes are essential to your ecosystem.

American Robin

American Robins are nature’s pest control agents — known for their cheerful songs and bright orange bellies. Keeping things in check, they feast on a smorgasbord of beetles, caterpillars, and grasshoppers. They also eat fruit and disperse seeds in new locations. Robins are early birds — they are usually the first to say hello to the morning and to take on their role in your yard’s health.

Northern Cardinal

Photo Credit: James St. John/Wikimedia Commons

The Northern Cardinal doesn’t just play to the eyes with its bright red feathers, it’s also a prolific seed spreader. While they munch on seeds, they also happen to plant new vegetation. They are frequent visitors to backyard feeders, and their strong preference for sunflower and safflower seeds makes them good dispersers of native plant life while dazzling onlookers.

Blue Jay

The blue jays are natural gardeners. Known for their love of acorns, they often forget where they’ve buried them. This forgetfulness causes oak tree growth in unexpected places. They’re smart and have striking plumage, and it’s a joy to watch them, but they are also perfect seed dispersers that are quietly planting trees, one acorn at a time.

Chickadee

Small and mighty, chickadees eat hundreds of insects a day, including when they are busy raising their young. They’re aimed at aphids, beetles and other pests that otherwise could decimate your plants. “The chickadees can eat hundreds of caterpillars per day when raising their young and are invaluable as natural exterminators.

American Goldfinch

American Goldfinches are tiny drops of sunshine flitting through your yard, with their bright yellow feathers. They love seeds and especially native wildflowers’ seeds that help control invasive plant species. What a goldfinch eats can determine what plants do well, helping to maintain a balanced, healthy backyard ecosystem.

Mourning Dove

Photo Credit: Rhododendrites/Wikimedia Commons

Mourning Doves are gentle and serene and feed on weed seeds to help garden and field plants grow. Invasive weeds rarely outcompete native plants because of their feeding habits. Mourning Doves work in pairs and can eat thousands of seeds in a season which makes them a natural weed control tool.

Woodpecker

Nature’s pest detectives are woodpeckers. They look for wood-boring insects and larvae that can hurt trees by pecking at tree bark. Woodpeckers are essential to forest health, controlling insect populations and creating nest cavities used by other species.

Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Bluebirds are joy ambassadors and pest control agents. What they feed on is beetles, crickets, and grasshoppers off your lawn so it stays lush and pest free. Bluebirds’ cavity nesting makes them a habitat dependent species and so conserve habitats that benefit other species too.

Barn Swallow

Aerial acrobats, Barn Swallows, hunt flying insects — such as mosquitoes and flies. Outdoor activities are more enjoyable because their dining habits dramatically decrease insect populations. The Flathead Audubon Society says that a Barn Swallow can eat up to 850 insects a day, making for a natural pest management system in your backyard.

Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwings are known for their sleek feathers and love of berries, and help to maintain balance in fruit bearing plant populations. They aid in propagating trees and shrubs, by eating berries and later dispersing the seeds. They play important role of the seed dispersal and contribute to biodiversity rejuvenation of local vegetation.

House Wren

House Wrens may be small, but they have big appetites for those garden pests – caterpillars and beetles. These are birds that will often nest in birdhouses or tree cavities, and are a welcomed addition to your yard. Their presence can reduce pest populations naturally and save your plants from potential damages.

Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.