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Collared dove problems (1 Viewer)

RICHAT

Rich
Our garden is inundated with collared doves. Despite counting for example 18 bird species feeding from my various feeders the other day including an early brambling and G/S woodpecker, the vast majority of my large bird feeding budget ends up within the stomachs of collared doves and to a lesser extent starlings. This is due both to their abundance and obviously, size. I have attempted to use both the seed and peanut caged "Nuttery" feeders but with limited success. I have not found these feeders very popular with birds other than a few tits and greenfinches, as they don't seem to like being caged up. Also the birds don't look so good in such enclosed dispensers.

Removal of the seed trays and/or perches from my tube seed feeders does discourage doves reasonably well, but also discourages the less agile finches such as chaffinch and brambling.

Therefore I am proposing to limit my hanging tube feeding solely to nyger and peanut dispensing, as these feeders have more species specificity, although collared doves sometimes even monopolise the nyger feeders. For dispensing the standard bird seed, I am proposing to use two ground feeding trays, each protected by one of the two types of so-called "ground feeder guardians", one which will keep out doves and pigeons, while the other smaller gauge one will keep out starlings and larger birds. However, I wonder how willing birds such as robins, blackbirds, chaffinches will be to use such caged ground feeding stations.

I should be grateful if anyone has any thoughts on the above, and in particular, should like to hear about anyone's experiences with the "ground feeder guardians."

Regards Rich
 
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Hello Rich
Although I don't have many c. doves, I agree they can cause problems-along with pigeons they can transmit the Trichomonas parasite. So I have also tried to prevent them from feeding too much. I find the tray attached to a feeder only works for a while as they learn to balance on it!
I sometimes use a cage under the feeder to stop them getting to the falling seeds, and the finches can clean them up instead. Once they are used to them, smaller birds are quite happy to go inside the cage. A ground feeder inside one would work as well, I reckon. No doubt it would have to be moved around regularly as the area could get messy and cause another hygiene problem.
Hope you have some luck!
 
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