5 Essential Services that Birds Provide
Birdwatching is an avid pastime for millions of people throughout the world. Watching their antics boosts our mood, relieves stress and reminds us of our connection with nature. But birds do much more than entertain us. Birds’ actions are crucial for earth and its people to thrive. While their role in pollination is well known, here are some other, lesser-known services that birds provide.
Birds are environmentally friendly exterminators.
Many birds are voracious predators of pests. For example, barn swallows can consume as many as 850 insects a day. They protect fields of pest-prone crops, increasing the yield. Barn owls reduce populations of destructive rodents and western bluebirds protect grapes in vineyards.
Their poop is important fertilizer.
Bird droppings, also known as guano, play a key role in spreading nutrients. Seabirds which come to shore to breed deposit an enormous amount of nitrogen into the soil, boosting grass growth to feed grazing animals. Guano was once so highly valued for its use in the production of fertilizer and explosives that a war started over the large deposits on Peru’s Chincha Islands. The recent growth of organic agriculture has renewed the interest in guano.
They keep forests healthy by spreading seeds.
After munching on their favorite berries, birds distribute seed-strewn droppings which ensure that new plants continue to sprout. Some birds also forage fungi and propagate a variety of mushrooms. The mushrooms are part of an underground fungal network that keeps surrounding trees healthy by transporting nutrients to their roots in exchange for sugar.
They create habitat for other birds.
Birdwatchers enjoy seeing woodpeckers both for their colorful plumage and for the additional birds which will follow. The woodpeckers build homes for other cavity-nesting species such as titmice, flycatchers and wrens. Woodpeckers are so important to other birds that they’re a good indicator of the health of the local bird community.
They remove waste.
Vultures are the only vertebrate animals that exclusively eat carrion, and they eat a lot of it. When vulture populations fall, the number of rotting carcasses in a landscape goes way up. Vultures also speed up the carcasses’ decomposition time, reducing the risk of disease for humans and other animals.
The ecosystem services that birds provide are crucial for the continuation of life as we know it. We can help them help us by promoting and protecting their habitats in order to maintain a wide diversity of bird species.