The Garden Feature That Keeps Birds Visiting Without Relying On Seed
A garden full of birds can be a wonderful thing. Not only will they fill your yard with life and music, but they'll also often eat pesky insects that would otherwise decimate your plants. While feeders can be a fantastic way to attract birds to your yard, they can be challenging to maintain. Luckily, they're far from the only way to get a yard full of birds. Popular features like bird baths can help to keep birds visiting your garden. One type of bird-attracting feature you may not have considered yet are logs.
While having piles of dead wood on your property can come with some complications, including the possibility of snakes using them as a hiding spot, leaving some logs in your yard is well worth considering, especially if you have the space. Not only will the wood slowly decompose, providing nourishment for your soil, but they'll also be a huge hit with your feathered friends.
There are a few reasons logs and log piles are so popular with birds. The logs can attract the insects that many birds enjoy eating. Some birds also shelter or even nest within piles of logs or sticks.
How to use logs to attract birds to your own garden
There are a variety of ways you can incorporate more logs, sticks, and other types of dead wood into your yard or garden. If you have the space for it, you can simply make a pile in your yard. You likely don't want it too close to your house, though, given the wide variety of wildlife that these piles can attract. This can include rodents, reptiles, and even some larger mammals like bears and bobcats.
One option for those with smaller yards is to simply use logs as part of your garden decor. This could include using them to define borders on gardens or even as statement pieces. While a singular line of logs may not be as useful for nesting or sheltering as a pile of them would, they should still quickly attract tasty bugs for birds to eat. This strategy can also help give your garden some rustic charm. Once you start looking, you may be surprised by the number of ways you can use logs in landscaping.