diff --git a/pkg/context/context.go b/pkg/context/context.go
index 61a9a2e62998..890ad1b3457c 100644
--- a/pkg/context/context.go
+++ b/pkg/context/context.go
@@ -3,18 +3,26 @@ package context
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"runtime/debug"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/go-logr/logr"
+	"github.com/trufflesecurity/trufflehog/v3/pkg/log"
 )
 
 var (
 	// defaultLogger can be set via SetDefaultLogger.
-	defaultLogger logr.Logger = logr.Discard()
+	// It is initialized to write to stderr. To disable, you can call
+	// SetDefaultLogger with logr.Discard().
+	defaultLogger logr.Logger
 )
 
+func init() {
+	defaultLogger, _ = log.New("context", log.WithConsoleSink(os.Stderr))
+}
+
 // Context wraps context.Context and includes an additional Logger() method.
 type Context interface {
 	context.Context
@@ -136,7 +144,9 @@ func AddLogger(parent context.Context) Context {
 }
 
 // SetupDefaultLogger sets the package-level global default logger that will be
-// used for Background and TODO contexts.
+// used for Background and TODO contexts. On startup, the default logger will
+// be configured to output logs to stderr. Use logr.Discard() to disable all
+// logs from Contexts.
 func SetDefaultLogger(l logr.Logger) {
 	defaultLogger = l
 }
diff --git a/pkg/context/context_test.go b/pkg/context/context_test.go
index 6ef93227adde..5438540abd22 100644
--- a/pkg/context/context_test.go
+++ b/pkg/context/context_test.go
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ func TestWithValues(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.NotContains(t, logs[6], `what does this do?`)
 }
 
-func TestDiscardLogger(t *testing.T) {
+func TestDefaultLogger(t *testing.T) {
 	var panicked bool
 	defer func() {
 		if r := recover(); r != nil {