Manicured weed free landscapes or healthy birds?
I really struggle with this question, as I want to do what I can personally do to be “environment friendly,” but I have a landscape company to operate, where I have clients that want weed free lawns and landscapes. I do somethings right, like reducing the use of single use plastics, recycle everything possible, encourage clients to use native plants, and not spraying my property for mosquitoes.
I could refuse to work with clients that want pesticides used, but they will just hire someone else that will provide the services they want. This would really reduce the number of clients we could service, therefore, reducing the number of families that we provide a living to.
What I can do, is educate people and let them make up their own minds. I found this great article from Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute on living bird friendly. According to them, up to 1 billion birds are estimated to die each year after flying into closed windows in the U.S. and Canada alone. That’s an amazing number of lost birds!! They have several suggestions you can do to help prevent this from happening at your home. I did not know that birds will fly into windows at night if lights are on inside. They say to turn off the lights or close the blinds to prevent this from happening.
Read the entire article here: “7 Simple Actions To Live Bird Friendly”
