European Starlings

[Norm P]

Hope I'm not going to start any hate e-mail from this but I have a question.
We are trying to fix our yard up to be as bird and wildlife friendly as possible. We are planting shrubs and flowers to attract as many of our feathered friends as possible. We also put out bird feeders for them, but here lies the problem. Our feeders attract European Starlings (introduced in the US in the late 19th Century) who take over the feeders and drive off all the native birds.
I would like to attract the native birds and don't find the starling particulary attractive, they are more of a pest.
Any body have any suggestions on how to deture these pest and allowing the more attractive native birds to feed at my feeders?
Thanks Norm

[birdman]

As out of place as they are (and I can appreciate your ambivalence to a non-native) "our" Starlings are, in fact, fine looking birds if you give them a close look.

They are very easy to dismiss, even over here, but take a look in the Gallery at some of the photos, and then take another look at your invaders.

OK... none of that, even if you have a change of heart, fixes your problem, and I have to agree that in my experience Starlings are very loutish birds - especially in "teenage gangs"!

But personally, we don't do anything special to deter them, and although they cause the occasional period of mayhem, our other garden visitors tend to let them get on with it until they move on, and then continue as before.

Other than the usual stuff about protective guards over your feeders that will only let smaller birds in (not that Starlings are that big, of course), or simply putting out more food, so that there's some left over when the Starlings are done, I can't offer any advice.

Maybe it is the lot of the wildlife gardener to take the rough with the smooth.

Don't know if that's any real help to you?

[deborah4]

What kind of feeders do you use.... 'my' starlings can't land on the hanging seed feeders .. they use the birdtable and fat feeders

[joannec]

I agree with what birdman says. For ages I used to bang on the windows when starlings were around to try to drive them away, but now I don't. I have noticed that they come mostly when it is really cold and the rest of the time they tend to stay away. So i have learned to accept them.

[Tomcat425uk]

What kind of feeders do you use.... 'my' starlings can't land on the hanging seed feeders .. they use the birdtable and fat feeders

Lucky you, I',m envious. Our Starlings are as agile as the Blue Tits are. Landing on the hanging feeders is no problem and short bursts of hovering by the feeder shouting at whoever is on there at the time is also quite usual. A couple of them have even figured out that if they do their impersonation of the Hunchback of Notre Dame they can get seed out of the seed feeder as well ! Mind you, I don't find that they actively chase other birds away, just each other. The smaller visitors just seem to wait for the gaps in the Starlings antics. And we shouldn't forget that they are on the RSPB Red list.

Gary & Julie

[hil5]

I feed the starlings separately on soaked raisins and fat in Winter. they don't tend to bother with the seed feeder then. They seem to really "appreciate" any food you give them by hovering it up super quick and even waiting in the morning for you to arrive.

However, once the babies are out of the nest nothing stops them causing havoc and noise for a month or so. Enjoy it mostly though as they are very entertaining and clever.

As suggested above a cage around the feeders is the way to go if they are still a problem or you don't want to feed them at all.

[birdtree]

The starlings here are the same as tomcat425uk very adept tofind the best way possible to get to the seed. But they have become very clever at hanging on to the nut feeders.
I know first hand what hil5 is on about I have at least 1 nest in my roof and there are about 10 other nests in the vacinity. But to watch the agileness of them entering the nest is wonderful to see.

[timvid]

We switched from sunflower to safflower in our feeders, and within a few days our starlings and grackles had gone away. We have an upside down suet feeder, and only rarely do I see a starling that can hang upside down to eat (and it probably is expending more calories than it's getting). Also, we have a peanut feeder that's designed to only allow woodpeckers to perch, and that's been really effective (again, there's always the multi-talented starling that can find a way to get what it wants). We still have a few that visit our yard, but not the huge numbers we had when we used sunflower. We started taking steps to keep them away when they started killing one bird a week on average.

Tim
www.WildlifeTheater.com