Starlings are taking over my backyard birdfeeder…?
May 11, 2010 Bird House Feeder
I have a backyard birdfeeder, and want to know how to attract different birds than I am getting. I am using mixed feed, also have a suet feeder, and I put out corn for the squirrels and birds.For the first couple of weeks, there were a couple of house finches and a downy woodpecker, along with cardinals, sparrows, doves, blue jays, grackles and juncos. But now, it seems the starlings are taking over. They’ve figured out how to eat out of the feeder, as well as from the suet, and run the smaller birds off. I wouldn’t mind feeding them too if they weren’t such bullies. The juncos are gone for the year, but I haven’t seen the woodpecker or finches for awhile. I plan to get a finch feeder, but is there anything else I can to to encourage different birds to come?
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Comments (3)
Hummingbirds are fun, entertaining, full of energy and it’s easy to attract hummingbirds.
get thistle to feed your finches and put the feeder away from the other feeder..
Starlings won’t eat thistle and the other birds will have a place of their own..
Shotgun
I agree with the other two answers – well, maybe not the shotgun. Starlings travel in groups and if you have the time to watch the feeder you can use a loud noise or even showing yourself and a loud noise(clapping or ?) to scare off the group . Make sure you scare off the last of them. If you repeat this until they fly to an easier target you can relax for a while but be vigilant in chasing them away. Eventually they will go bother someone else.