Community Chat

[TaxyLady]

I love my bird feeder and buy really good food for the birds.  Lately the blackbirds have taken over.  I get starlings and cowbirds too.  They are scaring the little birds and come in droves of hundreds.  Does anyone know what seed they don't like?  It has taken the pleasure of bird watching away not to mention the large  quantities of food they consume. 

[ValuSkr]

I would stop feeding them for a while - maybe they'll move on and when you start up again, they'll be elsewhere.

[Keeper of the koi]

@TaxyLady, I see your blackbirds  and  raise  you all my pigeons .  I have all these beautiful cardinals , Bluejays  ,juncos and a million pigeons !Guess they have to eat too....sigh..Maryanne

[Junebug54]

Bird feeders are very much discouraged in our area.    They also attract other unwanted creatures such as squirrels, skunks, bears, etc.   Also not good to get wildlife dependent on humans.    Bird feeders in my condo complex have been ordered down.

[CareBears]

I have a bird feeder and a squirrel feeder, about a week ago I saw a Hawk hanging around, so I have stopped feeding them hoping that the Hawk gets discouraged and moves on to somewhere else?

[Keeper of the koi]

@CareBears, I get hawks once in a while, i live in the country with neighbors  not close so you might not want to do this, i bang on a pot  when they get close after a few times they leave. They seem to dive into the low shrubs as well chasing little birds. Hawks are not  my favorites because of my koiponds, but my pondkids are over 20 lbs now so they are safe.. but they will steal froggies....

[CareBears]

@Keeper of the koi We have shrubs right outside the sunroom and the Hawk hides in those, so several times a day I bang on the window to scare him, he will fly away then, but then 10 minutes later I see him flying through the yard, I know they too are creatures of the world, but I don't want it getting the birds or the squirrels I have in my yard!

My husband has run out into the yard and yells at him to "Get Out" and waves his arms to scare him, the Hawk just looks at him like he thinks my husband is an idiot, LOL, the Hawk comes back!

[jackthebear]

Blackbirds will empty out the feeder 

stop feeding 

sad but that's it

stopped feeding the squirrels years ago 😡

[SeaMaiden]

I stopped feeding the birds when I started having rats come around. But, when I did feed the birds, I let nature take its course... squirrls, birds of all kinds whatever.  

[CareBears]

@ValuSkr We have a few blackbirds as well, but I also feed the Squirrels dry corn, and I throw out bread, our blackbirds tend to eat the bread up first but then go over and munch on the dry corn, they pretty much only eat the seed that is on the ground at the birdfeeder.