The bees are thirsty. You can't keep them away. Your only option would be to provide several alternate water supplies for the birds. Even pottery or plastic plant saucers, laying on the ground, are something that birds will come to readily. They can be placed in among your plants, but close to a hose for daily rinsing and filling.

First, let me introduce myself. I have been lurking here for a couple of days and couldn't resist signing up because I am learning a lot from this place and enjoy reading the comments and discussions. I enjoy birds and gardening so this place is wonderful to find. I am happy to see a thread like this was started. I am having huge problems with the English Sparrows taking over my two feeders and preventing the other birds from enjoying some of my sunflowers. I have a tube feeder and a gazeebo style feeder and I am filling it constantly. The sparrows waste most of the seed in the gazeebo style feeder and I scoop it up and put it in my coconut shell feeder which a squirrel has taken over. I tried not putting seed in them for a week in hopes the sparrows would find another place to dine, but I always break down when I see a chicadee or a cardinal there trying to get seed when there isn't any. I am going to stop putting seed there again but am getting worried because I want to feed the birds this winter when they need it most, but don't want the sparrows to prevent the other birds from eating. I don't mind the sparrows eating my food, but I don't like how rude they are. :o(, This evening the sparrows tried to gang up on a cardinal, but the cardinal wouldn't budge and I believe the cardinal hissed at them. :'0. I need to come up with some kind of solution before winter and before I go broke.

Sue, I would go with the types of feeders that the grackles won't like so much. You know, the kind the birds have to hang off of, hang upside down from, or crawl into small places to get their treat. The nuthatches and chickadees love those round globe feeders with the holes in the sides. They are about the only birds that will feed from them on a regular basis because the bird's body has to be a certain length to be able to perch on the edge of the hole and still get the head and body forward 'though' the hole. House Finches and Gold Finches will give it a go too but they are just a titch too long in the body to do it comfortably. Grackles would in NO WAY be able to perch or feed from these feeders. They are sold by the company called Yule-Hyde and this is what they look like: Other feeders that feed birds in ways that grackles may not like are the feeders that exclude the larger birds but allow the little winter birds to feed safely: For your finch feeder and suet feeder choose a variety that feeds the birds upside down to exclude the grackles: One more thing that might help is a "dome" to go over your feeders. Most of the larger birds don't like to have to go "underneath" something to get to their food and most domes you can buy today are adjustable so that if you lower it too far, you can raise it up and if that's too far you can put it down a notch so the distance between the feeder and dome are just right to let in the species you want and keep out the undesirable species. Here's a recent thread on the domes: http://nature.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bird/msg111749196145.html?8 After moving to my new house with a woodland backyard I also learned quickly that metal feeders are the only way to go. They cost a bit more but the squirrels can't ruin them. An all metal feeder that might work great against grackles is the "No No Feeder". It's all metal with wire mesh sides and depending on which version you buy, the perch is either wider or narrower. These come in a variety of colours like bright red, forest green, copper, galvanized steel etc... and fold completely flat for off season storage. Here's an example: Once you keep your grackles off the feeders they may be content to nip away at stuff on the ground or just move on to better pastures. It's been 3 weeks now and still not a single House Sparrow on our feeders. Not only have their been no house sparrows but there's been no sightings of grackles or starlings which are a SUPREME NUISSANCE at our feeders normally. They usually perch, dip their beaks in the seed and sift back and forth until the entire feeders are emptied and spilled to the ground. So far this year there's been NONE. I'm SOOOOOOO pleased and the birds are loving it that they aren't harassed by those nasty HOSPs. Barb

I wish I knew what to tell you Jay. I'd love to know how to keep them out of my yard, period! I suspect that there really isn't a way. I just cringed when I saw a pair of them going into my Bluebird box the other day. Mean things.