Goodness! No WONDER we don't have many insects!
We have the world's supply of sparrows (of all sorts) and finches.

Jeri

The problem i have with birds, and i feed them seeds in the winter, working on about 200 lbs worth, is that they will also eat your grass and flower seed. If you think they are not going to find it or eat it all, they will!

We have a huge problem with starlings here. They are a bane to the fruit growers. Someone introduced them from the UK because they missed their song, and now starlings are like rabbits in Australia: A royal nuisance. Noise cannons are fired off in orchards and all sorts of things to keep starlings from eating and destroying fruit crops.

Although I have never seen a house sparrow on my roses, I have heard that they will eat a japanese beetle or 2. Please, though, if you live near a bluebird trail, don't encourage house sparrows, as they will ruin any attempts to increase the number of bluebirds in the area.

Lois in PA

I bet other, more useful birds are keeping the insects away. Wrens and bluebirds eat many more insects than exotic English Sparrows.

English (aka 'House') sparrows are real pests in the U..S. They attack nestlings of more desirable, native species. I have seen them peck bluebird eggs and take over many a nest. They also infest every available cavity around the house. I had to replace my roof vents because Sparrows blocked them up.

I make it a point to stock my feeders with seed sparrows won't eat. I also evict them from my nest boxes so the native birds (wrens, chickadees, tree swallows and the iridescent bluebirds) can thrive. If I didn't do these things I would have a dreary, sparrow-only (and buggier) garden.

Here is a link that might be useful: Another opinion on sparrows

Well, here, we don't HAVE wrens, chickadees, tree swallows, or iridescent (or otherwise) bluebirds.
We don't even have robins.
And if you think house sparrows are aggressive, you really need to meet Mockingbirds and scrub jays. -- veg --
Here, the house sparrows blend contentedly with white crowned and red crowned sparrows and song sparrows, ringnecked
doves, and mourning doves, all dodging hummers.
And ALL of them disappear in a hurry when the kestrels strike.

Jeri

Jeri,

We do have robins in California. I saw them all the time
when I lived up north and I saw some just yesterday down
here in SoCal. Maybe they don't visit your yard, but they
are around. In fact, the LA County Arboretum is practically
infested with them right now.

Birds are a mixed blessing in my garden. We have few insects but the birds will eat almost any newly sprouted vegetable. It's tiresome to have to cage everything.

Hi Mendocino Rose,

Floating row covers are great for keeping birds away from young seedlings. Just lay it on top and place some rocks around the edges to hold it down. When the seedlings are large enough it can be removed and reused again. I get about 5 years of use with my covers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Floating Row Covers

I'm in OC. I've never seen a robin here, but did once in downtown LA, very faded compared to the Illinois robins I remember in the spring.
jerijen, sounds like we have mostly the same birds as you, though I don't see kestrels. Instead, we have red-tailed hawks and ospreys. The mockingbirds used to terrorize our cat by dive-bombing him. They would work in pairs, one getting his attention, then the other swooping down on him from behind and pecking him on the back. Hummingbirds are very assertive, too.
But our favorite insect eater is the Black Phoebe. I love to watch her swoop and catch insects in the air. We seldom see multiple Phoebes at the same time, though.

We do have robins in California.

*** Yes. I know that.
But we have no robins in this area.
From my observation of them in Northern California, I believe our local conditions do not attract them.
Traditionally, moreover, we have had a high population of Mockers, Scrub Jays, and big ol' Ravens.
The one time a robin attempted to nest here, they ran it off immediately.
So in effect: We have no robins HERE.

Building projects have driven off the lovely sweet-singing redwinged blackbirds.
We haven't seen Quail here in decades.
Earlier this week, for the first time, an American Egret dropped in.
Yes, mljan -- we do also have redtails, tho no ospreys.
Do you get those delightful little blackheaded Oregon Juncos?

Jeri

We have lots of sparrows but the insect predators that are fun to watch in the garden are bats. They put on quite a show when we sit out there evenings. We never get tired of watching their aerobatics. They go into a frenzy when I shake the branches on the buggy box elder tree out back.

We have the American Robins here in Illinois, which I can't wait to see again in March. We also have lots of sparrows, blue birds, canaries, finches, wrens, cardinals, blue jays, red winged blackbirds, red headed woodpeckers, and lots of others. Funny thing about the canaries...they are brown in the winter but turn yellow in the spring. They don't migrate. It's fun to watch them at my feeders. It's so quiet here in the winter. I miss the birds and their songs; I can't wait for them to migrate back here next month. I love them all; even the lowly sparrow.
-terry

I found out about sparrows by accident about years ago. I was taking a break from fertilizing when I noticed a few sparrows on my patio. They were bouncing JB's off the pavers before taking them to their nests. Since that time I've also put in more housing, and stopped spraying insecticides, except soaps.

Jeri, no, I haven't seen the Oregon Juncos. Too bad - I just googled them and they are mighty cute. Yes, many crows which chase out other species. We had a nice stand of some kind of reed within walking distance which supported a good sized colony of the red-winged blackbirds but the reeds are gone, and so are the blackbirds. Their call always reminds me of a rusty old screen door spring, and it sounds like the summers of my youth. We used to have Meadowlarks, but not recently.
I once saw a Mocker pull a tomato worm off the plant. Made me like them a bit more.

Mockers ARE fun to watch. I laugh every time I see them chase a cat, or for that matter a red-tailed hawk.
And those scrub jays are mighty fun to watch too. They'll stare right at me through the window, 3 ft away.
Once, a kestrel sat right there for quite a long time, too.

Once the garden really gets going, and there are probably enough aphids appearing, we usually get a big flock of some cute little brown birds that I think may be a sort of bush tit. They stay for a couple days, and eat every insect that isn't bigger than they.

Jeri