I'd consider the cost of feeding the birds as your payment for the pleasure of their presence in your gardens. Pest control is totally ancillary.

I've noted that robins stay busy in the gardens all year long, but don't know what they're up to most of the time.

Your very best weapon against garden pests are other insects that predate upon or parasitize the pests.

I see a connection between the family of Orioles drawn to our hummingbird feeders and the fact that last year did not see a single horned tomato worm. They perch on the tomato cage and peer down into the plant. I've never seen them pounce on anything, but maybe they eat the worm eggs.

And ditto above comment of pleasure/payback for feeding.

The other morning a Towhee came into the newly seeded lawn area, eating seeds ... with me sitting just feet away, with bated breath. The cost of a few seeds is well worth those moments of pleasure. I usually see them scratching and cooing in the mulch under the bush beans and squash.

BTW - about regular bird feeders ... we only put a handful or two of seed out each morning ... don't want to attract rats to the feeders at night [horrible creatures!]

I have a nest of Starlings under my roof and see the mother/father going to the nest with a mouthful of bugs all day long. Today one landed by the window I was sitting at and I could see centipedes and some other worms. None looked like earthworms. His mouth was so full of bugs, I wondered how big his babies must be by now. They go back and forth all day feeding the brood.

Jane

Even though it appears that birds gorge themselves on that seed research has shown that those seeds only comprise a small portion of the birds diet. They are eating many insects.

I have no feeders. I have a lot of predatory bugs and birds.

I have at least one family of brown thrashers that patrols the vegetable gardens digging for bugs, some towhees that do the same, hummingbirds that eat aphids, mockingbirds that eat any bugs they can catch, flickers and woodpeckers that feed on bugs, verdins that eat small bugs ... etc.

The seedeaters have to content themselves with what they can find in the bushes and on the ground.

Yes, when birds are feeding young, they all become insect eaters! What fun to watch.

You may think about providing fewer seed type feeders, but at least two bird baths to your garden areas. I swear that fresh water attracts more birds than feeders do!

Birds in my garden do more than eat bugs. They eat fruit tree blossoms, the eat the fruitlets, they destroy my asparagus seedlings, they tear my sunflower seedlings out of the ground, they eat my pea tendrils and growth tips, they eat my cherries, they peck at my apples... you get the idea. I don't know if they do any good or not, they've always been there so I can't tell any difference. I could certainly live without finches.

testoehr .... Your story makes me think of the husband in the movie STEEL MAGNOLIAS who used fireworks to chase birds out of tree above site for his daughter's wedding. It is very funny, but figure you're about ready for something of the kind. Are fire works legal in OR? I'm not kidding. If birds are doing that kind of damage to your garden/trees, that offsets any good they do.

What about chickens? Just a couple of them. They eat lots of bugs and do a good job aerating the soil. you have to make sure your plants are grown or the chickens will peck at the seedlings. The eggs are a nice benefit, too.