Trimming Your Hedges In April Is A Big Mistake - Your Local Birds Will Suffer For It

April's warm spring days make the world come alive with fresh leaves, fragrant flowers, and birds flitting around. So, it's only natural that we want to be outside tidying our gardens and beautifying our landscaping. But if your yard clean-up list includes tackling some overgrown privacy shrubs, it's better to put those shears back in the garden shed — trimming hedges in April is a big mistake. If you try to prune now, you could destroy or disturb your local birds' homes and potentially get yourself into trouble with the law.

Spring is the prime nesting season for birds, and they typically build nests in dense vegetation, which protects them and their young from predators. This is why April a dangerous time to put your trimmers to work on overgrown privacy shrubs. If you're growing a hedgerow instead of a traditional hedge, you'll want to be particularly careful, since a multi-species, living privacy wall will be even more dense with wildlife.

Once you have attracted the types of birds you want to your yard, they'll need a place to raise their young, and your hedges might just be the spot they pick. However, even though you should account for the needs of the new avian families, there's no need to avoid trimming hedges altogether. Keeping this landscaping chore on your regular to-do list can help your living privacy screen develop dense growth and stay at a manageable size. 

It's just a matter of getting the timing right. Depending on the plant species, you can either prune in late winter or wait until early fall to tackle this task. However, note that nesting seasons will vary depending on where you live; they may start in winter, continue throughout spring and summer, and last into fall. In fact, in many locations, pruning hedges in late October or November may be the safest bet.

Regardless of when you decide to trim hedges on your property, note that there are many types of bird's nests you should never remove, relocate, collect, or damage, according to federal law. In fact, under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, tampering with migratory birds' nests in any way is prohibited — and those who flaunt this law can face steep fines and jail time. To protect our feathered friends while they raise their families, and to keep yourself out of legal trouble, it's best to learn more about nesting seasons and trim your hedges outside of that timeframe.