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House Sparrow Problem (1 Viewer)

Karizmo

Member
So Im new and am here asking for a helping hand. If this is in the wrong area, I do apologize.

I live in a rather urbanish setting. Houses are maybe 60 feet apart from eachother. The regular community I guess.

My grandmother had her feeder filled with all sorts of unique birds In a more rural setting. She sadly passed though and I dont live in her area so Im dealing with my own birding issues I guess.

House Sparrows. I thought they were cute at first. The only bird that doesnt care about them though is my Blue Jay. I think they are scaring everything else away that I'd want to have at my feeder.

They hang around constantly and there is no less than roughly 5+ on my platform feeder at a time. They are also pretty talkative given I probably have maybe 13 of them.

I dont mind them coming around but they clean the feeder in like 4 days tops and its a custom one so its about 2 feet wide and an inch and a 1/2 tall...so you may see the issue.
 
The only thing that worked for me was changing the seed in all of my tube feeders to sunflower hearts. For some reason the House Sparrows don't care for that seed as much but it is rather costly. Hope you find a solution.

BTW, A very warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum. Enjoy ;)
 
Hi Karizmo and welcome to BF!

House Sparrows are not easy to deter. Plus a platform feeder is their very favorite, they can snack comfortably without concern about twig strength or sudden gusts. Cardinals too would love that setup, as would Mourning Doves.

Sunflower hearts are actually pretty cost effective, because you eliminate the mess caused by the shells, which incidentally inhibit plant growth where they land. The offset is that the shelled seed spoils easily, especially if it rains, so that is a real hit considering the size of your feeder. Also, I think your setup is so nice that the sparrows may conclude that even sunflower hearts are good enough....
I had good luck with safflower seed,
https://www.thespruce.com/safflower-seeds-385835
but those do have a learning curve for the birds to get comfortable with them.
 
Hi Karizmo and welcome to BF!

House Sparrows are not easy to deter. Plus a platform feeder is their very favorite, they can snack comfortably without concern about twig strength or sudden gusts. Cardinals too would love that setup, as would Mourning Doves.

Sunflower hearts are actually pretty cost effective, because you eliminate the mess caused by the shells, which incidentally inhibit plant growth where they land. The offset is that the shelled seed spoils easily, especially if it rains, so that is a real hit considering the size of your feeder. Also, I think your setup is so nice that the sparrows may conclude that even sunflower hearts are good enough....
I had good luck with safflower seed,
https://www.thespruce.com/safflower-seeds-385835
but those do have a learning curve for the birds to get comfortable with them.

Is it an adequate idea to set up another platform feeder with their favorite seed far back in my yard so they dont screw with my main feeder? Or would they not care?

Yeah I actually saw my first cardinal today which im rather pleased about.
 
Is it an adequate idea to set up another platform feeder with their favorite seed far back in my yard so they dont screw with my main feeder? Or would they not care?

Yeah I actually saw my first cardinal today which im rather pleased about.

Glad you got your first Cardinal, they are just beautiful birds, plus they are lovely to hear.

Sadly, I've no idea what the 'favorite seed' of House Sparrows would be. They seem to enjoy pretty much everything, so another feeder is not going to draw them off.
A water feature would do that much more effectively, ideally some shallow basin with a fine mist spray or a drip. You'll pull in more birds with water than with any kind of seed, especially during the summer months.
 
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