Grub Worms Will Be A Thing Of The Past With The Help Of These Noisy Birds

Grubs are one of those worms you never want to see too many of in your garden because they have a tendency to eat the roots of grass, garden plants, and ornamental flowers. While a few grub worms in your yard is normal, if you start finding around 10 grubs or more per square foot then you may have an infestation on your hands and your yard is likely to suffer for it. 

Luckily, there are a few ways to get rid of these gross-looking critters. The first method is to treat your lawn with pesticides; however, this option is best avoided unless the situation is dire because the pesticides that kill grub worms can also harm other local wildlife. Another option is to minimize grub worms by mowing your lawn to the right height to keep it strong and healthy. One of the easiest ways to help control the grub worm population in your yard is by attracting more of their predators: songbirds.

In fact, many songbirds — including chickadees, bluejays, robins, blackbirds, cardinals, and nuthatches — love eating grub worms. The only downside of using these birds to take care of your grub worm problem is that, in the process of looking for the pesky worms, your resident songbirds may make few holes in your lawn or garden. However, these small holes will cause much less damage to your yard in the long run than a grub worm infestation would. Plus, on top of songbirds helping you rid your yard of these pests, eating grub worms is good for the birds as they are packed with protein and essential nutrients that can help keep your local avian population healthy.

If you want to get rid of your grub worms, making your yard a more inviting place for songbirds is a good place to start. You can do this by adding more bird feeders filled with seeds that songbirds are known to like, such as sunflower seeds. You can also add a few birdhouses and a bird bath to help make your yard more welcoming to our beautiful and helpful singing friends.

Furthermore, when you are working in your garden or yard and come across a few grubs, you can also do as one Redditor on r/gardening does and "toss them in the driveway for birds to eat." This will help lower the number of grubs in your yard and attract more grub-eaters while also satisfying your need to avenge your garden plants at the same time. Another Redditor on the same thread detailed a similar method of exterminating grub worms and found that the birds really enjoy it, stating, "when I find one, I throw it as hard as I can near the bird feeder ... When I lived in KY, the robins would follow me as I gardened and catch what I threw [at] them." However, while fun, it is also important to never do this with grub worms you find in an area of your yard or garden that has been treated with pesticides as pesticide-contaminated grub worms can actively harm both adult and baby songbirds alike.