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Starlings and Mourning Doves (1 Viewer)

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ShelleyL

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Hello! I am new to this forum, but not to feeding birds. I live in Missouri and this year I added a heated birdbath and have begun feeding safflower and sunflower seeds (unshelled) in addition to the shelled sunflower chips and whole peanuts that I have fed in the past. I was told that the safflower chips would attract Cardinals, which they have but the Cards also like the sunflower seeds just as well.

The problem I'm having is that the unshelled seeds are attracting a huge flock of Mourning Doves. One day we had 18 of them on the deck at one time! They are emptying my feeder by early afternoon and keeping away the Cardinals, Rosy Finches and other smaller birds. In addition, no matter what I do, I seem to have some Starlings that will eat anything I put out. I tried suet in an upside down feeder - supposedly Starlings can't hang upside down and eat - ha. They can. My peanut feeder is inside another cage but they can still get to that too. Does anyone have any suggestions to keep these larger, bully birds away from my feeders? I was told that the Starlings don't like the safflower or sunflower seeds - but it looks like those darn things will eat ANYTHING. :C

I appreciate any advice you can give me! Thanks.
 
Welcome to the forum! I feel your pain. I had about 15-20 starlings out there today, & they always clean out the suet & even worse is that they bully the Downy's that try & hold their ground. It's to the point where the Downy's are only able to eat if I am out there (or the nearing of dusk). If I come outside the sparrows & starlings get spooked & fly away & then I hear & see the woodpeckers. Funny that the sparrows & starlings haul feathers if I come out to the yard, all the other birds don't seem to mind when I am out there- they'll just continue about their business.

Also today, I counted 34 morning doves in my yard, I don't think I have ever seen that many together... period.

I don't mind feeding either, but the starlings just irritate me a bit.
 
SixxStar said:
Welcome to the forum! I feel your pain. I had about 15-20 starlings out there today, & they always clean out the suet & even worse is that they bully the Downy's that try & hold their ground. It's to the point where the Downy's are only able to eat if I am out there (or the nearing of dusk). If I come outside the sparrows & starlings get spooked & fly away & then I hear & see the woodpeckers. Funny that the sparrows & starlings haul feathers if I come out to the yard, all the other birds don't seem to mind when I am out there- they'll just continue about their business.

Also today, I counted 34 morning doves in my yard, I don't think I have ever seen that many together... period.

I don't mind feeding either, but the starlings just irritate me a bit.
Click to expand...


Thanks for your reply. My dad and I try to think of ways to take out the starlings without hurting any of the other birds. Haven't come up with anything yet! I had to bring my suet inside. I have a suet feeder that forces the birds to hang upside down to eat and the starlings STILL figured it out. I'm thinking about trying one of the suet feeders in the cage, but I have my doubts about whether it will work.

The mourning doves aren't quite as aggressive, but they do hog the feeder when they are around. I have a good assortment of Cardinals, Rosy Finches, Blue Jays, Woodpeckers, and Gold Finches so I guess I should just be happy and not worry about it. The starlings don't seem to keep the other birds away for very long, but they still annoy me! I'm hoping that with this bad weather we are getting I'll see some Bluebirds at my heated birdbath. I know there is at least 1 pair living near my house.

Thanks for sympathizing with me!
 
You could try using safflower seed all by itself. Cardinals like to eat it thought they may take a few days to adjust. I know it is not popular with starlings because it has a hard shell they are not anatomically equipped to crack like most seed eating birds. My doves mostly swallow millet whole so if they don't swallow the safflower whole you may have your problem licked for they sure aren't going to crack that shell either. Hopefully it is too large a seed for their liking.

You could always add a thistle feeder to keep the smallest finches happy, I don't think starlings or doves would bother that either.
 
eetundra said:
You could try using safflower seed all by itself. Cardinals like to eat it thought they may take a few days to adjust. I know it is not popular with starlings because it has a hard shell they are not anatomically equipped to crack like most seed eating birds. My doves mostly swallow millet whole so if they don't swallow the safflower whole you may have your problem licked for they sure aren't going to crack that shell either. Hopefully it is too large a seed for their liking.

You could always add a thistle feeder to keep the smallest finches happy, I don't think starlings or doves would bother that either.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the suggestion!
 
The starlings are so annoying. They consume mass quantities of food and make such unpleasant screeching noises. I bang on the window and scare them away. They eat anything; suet, seed, nuts.

In my backyard, the mourning doves sit in trees on rainy days or sun themselves on the grass if it's sunny out. They basically just wait for seeds to drop.
 
Transformer said:
The starlings are so annoying. They consume mass quantities of food and make such unpleasant screeching noises. I bang on the window and scare them away. They eat anything; suet, seed, nuts.

In my backyard, the mourning doves sit in trees on rainy days or sun themselves on the grass if it's sunny out. They basically just wait for seeds to drop.
Click to expand...

Today I purchased a caged suet feeder. It's quite deep to get to the suet. The smaller birds and woodpeckers will easily be able to get to it but I'm not sure about the larger woodpeckers. We'll see.

It was worth every penny to see the starling trying to get into it this afternoon, but couldn't get his head in that far. He was frustrated! They do eat the black oil sunflower seeds that I have out, but I don't have huge flocks of them at the feeders anymore, so I guess I should be happy with that. I hope the other birds like the new seut feeder. We'll see over the next few days. Even if the other birds don't like it I might leave it out just to see the starlings get frustrated with it!
 
Other then the upside down feeders there is still the option of shooting them since they are not a native species, use a BB gun and the small metal ball will go right through so whatever eats it next will not have any problems.Did this last year for a few days and after I got about 4 the rest just left and none since then.

Ilya
 
MurometsVLD said:
Other then the upside down feeders there is still the option of shooting them since they are not a native species, use a BB gun and the small metal ball will go right through so whatever eats it next will not have any problems.Did this last year for a few days and after I got about 4 the rest just left and none since then.

Ilya
Click to expand...

Oh, believe me the idea has crossed my mind. Can't discharge a firearm in the city limits or I would probably do it! As an update, I have taken down my peanut feeder (it was a mesh-type tube feeder). I had the feeder inside another cage but the starlings could still get their heads in and get some food. I have put a small cup of shelled peanuts in that cage and the starlings can't get to it. My problem with the starlings has diminished tremendously. They still will sit at the sunflower feeder - it has a tray attached to the bottom, but they appear to just be looking for the sunflower hearts that other birds have dropped. I think they are losing interest. They stop by for a drink of water but aren't gathering and hanging around in large numbers. I can live with that!
 
SixxStar said:
Let me know how that works for you, I should look for 1 for my yard.
Click to expand...

The caged suet feeder has worked very well. The Chickadees get in and eat and I have several woodpeckers that stop by during the day. I have a very large Northern Flicker that can get his head in far enough that with his long beak he can get to the suet as well. This is not a feeder that I've seen very many places. Let me see if I can insert a picture. I think many of the other suet feeders would still allow starlings.

I can't find a picture but the outer cage is round and it has a place for 2 suet cakes back to back inside. It has a solid green circular top and another piece of the same shape on the bottom. The starlings just can't get to it!
 
ShelleyL said:
In addition, no matter what I do, I seem to have some Starlings that will eat anything I put out. I tried suet in an upside down feeder - supposedly Starlings can't hang upside down and eat - ha. They can.
Click to expand...
hi i have the same problem with starlings, but the way my feeders perches are it makes it hard for them to be able to comfortably eat. also its a squirrel proof feeder with adjustments for the weight so i put it on the lightes wieght would make the cage fall over the feeding ports. whenever they would try to eat it would be about 5 trying on one feeder which is heavy enough to make the cage fall. i have a problem with my suet, although its not starlings. its house sparrows, which are said not to be able to cling onto things sideways. well aparently those little buggers are smarter then everyone thinks. it seems they learned from the woodpeckers and such how to cling onto the cages and eat. they even do clinging verticly upside down. anyway if all else fails get a male mockingbird, he'll defend the feeder from everyone at first but eventually will only attack the large birds (starlings, and unfortunately bluejays) and they wont come back for a while. anyway thats what happened with me feeder. :t:
 
Shelly I think I saw a feeder like that at the Wild Bird Unlimited store today. It looks like a regular square suet feeder but there is a round cage around the whole thing? I was thinking about trying it but wondered if the birds could get to it. Evidently they can, I may go pick one up. The Starlings are bad here too.
 
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