New feeder, first visitor

jeffashman · Thursday at 8:43 PM

Replaced my feeder with something I'm hoping will be more appealing to the smaller birds and less appealing to the larger birds, but well, the first visitor was a Starling.

jun12202502b by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

Digger... · Friday at 9:23 PM

A new toy

.

jeffashman · Saturday at 10:09 AM

Digger... said:
A new toy.

Oddly enough, the Starling has been the only visitor. Apparently, the Finches are not impressed...

terri · Saturday at 8:30 PM

Nice image of the Starling!

It's unlikely you'll have any success with your mission with this beautiful mixed seed. I've been through this before, both in Georgia and up here in Michigan - and I promise you, the sure-fire way to discourage the Starlings or other bully birds is to replace what's in the feeder.

Small birds like safflower seeds - with hulls on. Starlings are unable to crack those hulls and leave the area pretty quickly. Grackles and other large birds apparently think safflower seeds are bitter and they take off, too. The nice folks at my local Wild Birds Unlimited have stressed to get the white safflower, not the browned stuff.

Try it the next time you pick up some birdfood. Your plan should work!

4rum · Sunday at 6:34 AM

NIce shot of the Starling. Sharp with very good detail.

I've read through comments. I have a terrible time with Grackles. They can empty a suet basket or seed feeder in minutes. The tip on safflower sounds good, but it does appear to be expensive.

I supplement with dry dog food for the larger birds, Grackles, Bluejays etc. They love it and will feed on that instead of my suet and black oil sunflower seed. The Red Bellied Woodpeckers like the dry dog food too. I did check online, dry dog food is safe for the birdies and even gives them some of the nutrients they need.

21limited · Sunday at 7:35 AM

I have both large feeders and small bird feeders. Both have black oil sunflower seeds. Also grackles and starlings, will eat relativel inexpensive corn, from the ground if it’s there. Altogether, I have two large bird feeders and 4 small bird feeders. That means the small birds always have place to go. But right now they are off with their chicks and catching lots of bugs. THey'll be back at the feeders in August, when the chicks have fledged. teaching the chicks where the bkack oil sunflower seeds come from. They’ll also eat the sunflower seeds that grow on our property, although they never get to be ripe. They clean out the seeds almost as soon as they form.

jeffashman · Sunday at 11:18 AM

terri said:
Nice image of the Starling!

It's unlikely you'll have any success with your mission with this beautiful mixed seed. I've been through this before, both in Georgia and up here in Michigan - and I promise you, the sure-fire way to discourage the Starlings or other bully birds is to replace what's in the feeder.

Small birds like safflower seeds - with hulls on. Starlings are unable to crack those hulls and leave the area pretty quickly. Grackles and other large birds apparently think safflower seeds are bitter and they take off, too. The nice folks at my local Wild Birds Unlimited have stressed to get the white safflower, not the browned stuff.

Try it the next time you pick up some birdfood. Your plan should work!

Thanks! That seed is what is left of a previous bag of no-waste seed. I just filled the storage bin with hot pepper infused hulled sunflower seeds, so I'll have to put up with the Starlings for now. A mated pair of House Finches have finally shown up, and I imagine as the word gets out there will be others. I finally hung the Wren House on the patio, so it will be interesting to see if the pair that hang around move in. I'm waiting for the Dove's to discover the new feeder, they can be worse than the Starlings, especially the Collared Doves.

4rum said:
NIce shot of the Starling. Sharp with very good detail.

I've read through comments. I have a terrible time with Grackles. They can empty a suet basket or seed feeder in minutes. The tip on safflower sounds good, but it does appear to be expensive.

I supplement with dry dog food for the larger birds, Grackles, Bluejays etc. They love it and will feed on that instead of my suet and black oil sunflower seed. The Red Bellied Woodpeckers like the dry dog food too. I did check online, dry dog food is safe for the birdies and even gives them some of the nutrients they need.

Around here putting out dog food attracts the wrong kinds of rodents. Once of the reasons I use hot pepper infused seed, it burns their little noses.

terri · Sunday at 12:22 PM

jeffashman said:
Thanks! That seed is what is left of a previous bag of no-waste seed. I just filled the storage bin with hot pepper infused hulled sunflower seeds, so I'll have to put up with the Starlings for now. A mated pair of House Finches have finally shown up, and I imagine as the word gets out there will be others. I finally hung the Wren House on the patio, so it will be interesting to see if the pair that hang around move in. I'm waiting for the Dove's to discover the new feeder, they can be worse than the Starlings, especially the Collared Doves.

Around here putting out dog food attracts the wrong kinds of rodents. Once of the reasons I use hot pepper infused seed, it burns their little noses.

Ooo, good luck with the wren house! Sounds like a potential photo op.

I really like the no-mess blends, too. Around here I'm learning that I'll just have to offer it seasonally. In late winter/early spring, when the starlings and grackles show up, they literally drive the little guys out of the yard. (Not called "bully birds" for nothing.) The only thing that's worked for me is the food switch. Starlings literally can't break the hulls and the grackles don't seem to like it.

Within days, only a few are still hanging around but the house finches, song sparrows, and even the Cardinals have returned. They all like the white safflower and an attached seed-catcher takes care of most of the litter from the hulls.