Hot take: my yard went from 3 birds a day to 20+ after I quit mowing in May
I used to mow my half acre every Saturday like clockwork. Then a guy at the hardware store in Ames told me to let it grow out and see what happens. So I stopped mowing in May and by July my grass was knee high. The birds went nuts. I counted 22 different birds in one morning, goldfinches, cardinals, a pair of catbirds, even a towhee scratching around. Before that I was lucky to get 3 a day, just house sparrows and a lonely robin. The tall grass gave them cover and the weeds dropped seeds all summer. Now my neighbors think I'm lazy but I don't care. Has anyone else tried letting a patch go wild and did you get the same jump in birds?