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Date Posted: 14:06:35 10/21/05 Fri
Author: Mary
Subject: Back Yard Birding/Some tips

Aug/Sep 2005, vol. 43 no. 5

Backyard Birding
By George H. Harrison

Ten Ways to Keep Bullies at Bay

Bully birds are a nuisance, but you can take some simple
steps to prevent them from dominating your feeders—and
allow less aggressive avian visitors to enjoy your
hospitality

Sometimes it’s downright irritating to watch bully birds,
such as blue jays, swoop down onto bird feeders, sending
panicked goldfinches, juncos and chickadees flying. Or to
watch as European starlings crowd a feeder so that
smaller, less aggressive birds don’t have a chance to eat.
Such bratty behavior has caused some people to throw in
the towel and stop filling feeders altogether. But you
don’t have to give up. Here are some easy ways to control
the bullies so that other birds might enjoy your
hospitality:

GO MODERN: New innovations in feeder construction can
limit the size of the birds that are able to feed in your
yard—and bully birds are generally larger than most of the
more “desirable” feeder birds. Look for a rubber-coated
mesh that surrounds traditional tube, suet and tray
feeders. It allows smaller birds to pass through and enter
the feeding chamber. Bullies, such as blackbirds, pigeons
and crows, can’t squeeze through the mesh to reach the
food. The downside is that desirable birds such as
northern cardinals are also too large to enter the food
chamber.

TAKE COVER: Starlings are known for their love of suet
cakes, and it is not unusual for them to eat a whole cake
in a single day. To stymie starlings, hang your suet
feeder under a domed squirrel baffle or buy a
starling-proof suet feeder, which allows birds access to

food only from beneath the feeder. Starlings are reluctant
to go under any sort of cover.

CATCH SEEDS: Many people find that foiling bully birds at
feeders isn’t quite enough because they often eat the food
that the other birds drop on the ground. To solve this
problem, place a garbage can under a hanging feeder. The
bullies are not likely to fly into the can to get the
discarded seed.

BE SELECTIVE: Selective feeding is yet another way to
control the kinds of birds that eat at your feeders.
Generally, bully birds do not like safflower or nyjer
(thistle) seeds. By offering just those seeds—and not wild
bird seed mixes—only finches, chickadees, nuthatches,
cardinals and grosbeaks will come to the feeders to dine.

AID ACROBATS: Bully species usually require a perch to
hold onto while eating, but most finches and many other
small feeder birds can eat without perching at food ports.
Finches can cling to the sides of a tube feeder and eat
all day long. Bullies can’t. Some commercial tube feeders
have perches above the food ports, where the birds have to
stretch downward to feed—something that bully birds can’t
do either.

USE BOTTLES: Thwart suet-eating bullies at a cagelike
feeder by inserting a long perch that extends out both
sides, placing a small soda bottle over each end. When a
bully lands on a soda bottle, the weighty visitor rolls
off the perch. Smaller birds are too light to roll off the
bottles while feeding, or they can cling to the wire cage.

OFFER ALTERNATIVES: A male hummingbird is often aggressive
and protective of a sugar-water feeder that he considers
his own. Only “his females” and their young are allowed to
feed undisturbed. All other hummers are chased away. The
simple solution to this problem is to set up an additional
sugar-water feeder on another side of your house, out of
sight of the other male’s domain. He can’t guard a feeder
that he can’t see.

BUY WEIGHTS: Look for a bird feeder that has a weighted
perch or treadle. When larger, heavier birds land on a
treadle, it drops down over the bird food. (This device
works against squirrels, too.) Lightweight birds can reach
the food because the treadle does not drop down when they
perch.

HANG MIRRORS: Birdhouses for woodpeckers, wood ducks and
owls are often taken over by European starlings. To keep
the foreigners at bay, place a small mirror on the back
wall facing the entryway so that starlings see their own
“scary” reflections when they land at the door. The mirror
doesn’t seem to deter other birds.

PLAY MUSIC: Just when the strawberries and grapes are
ready for picking, a variety of birds will descend on a
garden patch to consume the fruit. One way to deter these
critters is to set up a radio in the garden that plays
loud music. It’ll scare even the boldest invaders.

Field Editor George H. Harrison is the author of more than
a dozen books on backyard wildlife.

http://www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife/article.cfm?issueID=76&articleID=1101

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