Feeding Unwanted Birds (1 Viewer)

Hi All,

I'm new to BirdForum (as of yesterday) as well as birding (last year), so excuse me if I've posted this to the wrong place, etc.! I live in the Chicago, IL, USA area. I started feeding birds last spring and have ended up with hanging suet feeders, a pole feeder for scratch food, hanging sunflower feeders, thistle feeders and some ground feeding. I'm thrilled with the birds I've attracted, but these past few weeks the grackles have taken over the scratch feeders and sunflower feeders, and the starlings have taken over all the suet feeders. A few days ago in desperation I moved one of the suet feeders under the eaves of the house hoping only the woodpeckers would visit---well the next day starlings were on it. Since it's at the height of summer and I won't be starving anyone I've pulled way back on my feeding and am only putting out a bit of sunflower in the morning and then in the evening when I get home from work.

Any ideas on what to do? Or should I just sit back and enjoy and watch while they eat me out of house and home? I was replacing the suet blocks in each of the suet feeders daily---that's a lot of suet and a lot of money!

I was thinking of getting one of those weighted feeders so when too large of a bird comes it'll close access to the food. Do they work? I still want to allow access for the blue jays, though, and I'm afraid if I weight a feeder for a grackle the jays won't be able to get to the food. Thanks everyone!

Sue

Hi Sue,

On behalf of Admin and the Moderators, welcome to Bird Forum :t:

It's always a difficult thing to just feed the species that you want to and not the hangers on. I have never found a solution to the problem.

One way I suppose is to stop feeding the birds as at this time of year there is plenty of food about. The Starlings and Grackles will move on and then you can start up again in a month or so.

You could try alternative food's like peanuts and niger for the time being as fewer bird species will eat them.

Ian says some wise words for one of the most common problems...one I get continually when the 'crap' birds figures out a new feeder!!
Here is what HAS worked for me, for the most part.
Reduce the size of your feeders. 1) most of the 'cool' birds you want are small and big birds have a problem navigating smaller feeders and 2)healthier, food doesn't get molded as new gets put on top of old when it rains before you clean the feeder (hopefully you do this regularly)
Therefore Niger seed in the 'netted sock' works great!!! Basically only the Goldfinch and some housefinch will get on it.
Suet feeder : 2 kinds work for me, 1) the 'upside down' square with a hinged roof, only hanging birds can use it, starlings and crows and grackles will try to jump and nab if they can see the food, bluejays can cling to the underside for a short spell. 2) there is this really cool 'log' kind that is hung both with or without perches (I got without) that the downys, hairys and chickadees love alot. The suet are plugs made with NO CORN (which is what most of the bugger bunch want). I have seen crows jump and grab at it, but only get surplus that is on the outside, so I usually take 1 plug and cut it into 3 and knife it inside the lower 3 holes...starlings found that if I put some in the top hole, they can stand on the top of the feeder and reach down (dang!!) but that is all they can get. *FYI woodpeckers on average eat more suet from about march to august than they do in the winter!
But I would remove those other feeders first for a bit, so they leave and find bounty elsewhere. Buy quality seed (safflower, black oil sunflower are what most of all song birds love) cheap seed, buys you cheap birds...and get rid of the platform feeder that invites rif-raf. Seed catchers on the bottom of sunflower feeders are great for the cardinal (and jay and anyone else, just not in large competative quantity).
To me, this problem is never ending. Once I figure out one way, something happens to make me re-evaluate...again.
Ahwell, I like trying out new stuff anyway
Now, if they could invent a mealworm feeder that the house sparrow would not get into, I'd be sittin great!
Shelley

Can you get baffles around feeders to stop larger birds getting in?

pduxon said:

Can you get baffles around feeders to stop larger birds getting in?

Click to expand...

It would probably work for the Grackles, but for Starlings they can get through some pretty small spaces as I found last year when I provided Meal Worms for the Blue Tits.

I am trying a new feeder in my garden right now. It is by Nature Craft (I believe) and has a 'squirrel guard' surrounding and extending out from a center wire mesh core. You can put blackoil sunflower seed or peanuts in it. This is my first year for continuous squirrel raids, so I am trying this one out with peanuts to see how it goes. So far squirrels haven't been able to access any of the peanuts in the core, only the droppings in the plate on bottom...good, but what I find amazing here is that the larger birds are having trouble, too. The adults look at it sum it up, maybe poke but move on, the juveniles try harder, but scream in frustration. What can be reached is small (so far only the blue jay is more prone to keep at it).
Only the smaller birds can access the core.... so far, so good, may have to get one more and see how the easier extracted sunflower seed goes!
Shelley

I don't have starlings, but I dealt with the grackle invasion by putting straight safflower seed in the feeders I didn't want them to get on, so the little birds would have a chance.

Grackles (and squirrels) aren't interested in safflower, and many other birds, including chickadees, house finch, blue jays, cardinals, titmice, RBWoodpeckers, and nuthatches, like it just fine.

Other feeders in the yard have BOSS or thistle. The BOSS ones attract a wide variety, including "undesirables", but I'm ok with that as long as the little birds have their own feeders where they can perch in peace.

I encourage the grackles, mourning doves (and squirrels) to stay on the ground by sprinkling a mix of cheap mixed seed and cracked corn.

I do still have the same problem as you of the grackles tearing up the suet. I saw a suet feeder that had a wire basket attached to a plaque of wood - it was meant to be hung horizontally with the wood side up, so a bird would have to hang upside down from the underside (from the wire cage) to feed. That wouldn't be much of a challenge for the woodpeckers and small birdies, but I bet that would deter the grackles.