Robins and my Garden - Should I be worried?

[wisconsindead]

I've noticed that robins are pretty regularly digging around near my plants. They displace the mulch and dig into the soil, sometimes right next to the plant base. I assume they are mostly eating worms and thus, are not beneficial. Do they provide any benefits? I don't want them damaging the root system of my plants or eating the worms.

Any tips on keeping them away or facts about how they are actually beneficial in the grand scheme?

Thanks!

[webmaster]

I would say that the fact you have robins in your yard means you may have a relatively healthy backyard. Robins eat grubs, caterpillars, grasshoppers, worms and other bugs. It's good to have balance. Some of what they eat are bugs that may eat your leaves, so that's good.

I encourage birds in my yard. My mother in law does the same, including providing a bath. She has one of the best gardens around.

[imafan26]

While it is true that birds eat a lot of insects they might pull up seedlings or eat some of the leaves. Birds are very fond of lettuce seedlings where I work.

[rainbowgardener]

well, there are birds and there are birds. You probably have different ones.

I doubt the robins would eat leaves or bother seedlings. In summer, they mainly eat insects, grubs, worms. In winter, they eat mostly berries and seeds. Over all, I think they are beneficial in the garden, even if they do get an earthworm or two. They might also pull some Japanese beetle grubs out of your lawn!

[BU54]

I have robbins too. They mostly like the worms especially after I roto till the garden. Not much of a concern to me. Now I have a finch feeder in the back yard and love watching the gold and purple finches feed. On a few occasions I saw the gold finches on my beet leaves while watering the garden. I thought they were getting some fresh water but after close inspection they were eating the beet leaves. They didn't do enough damage to affect production but I thought that was unusual.

[wisconsindead]

Thanks for chiming in everyone!

[GardeningCook]

Robins are definitely one of the GOOD GUYS. Let them be!!