Starlings!
Comments (10)
Barbara Adams
8 years agoSylvia Da Costa
8 years agoRelated Discussions
starlings roosting in my bamboo
Comments (7)I've used a motion-activated sprinkler (type in "Scarecrow sprinkler" on Amazon) to keep deer out of my yard, and they work for smaller critters and birds. The main problem for you would be that you would need to mount it high enough so that the birds' movements triggered the sprinkler and they got doused. Here is a video of one in action... Here is a link that might be useful: Scarecrow vs. pigeons...See Morestarling sighting praise
Comments (3)meek? OK. Last year there was a lovely woodpecker nest in a tree hollow in my yard not 50 feet from the back deck. We watched them feeding their babies hoping to see them finally take flight. The starlings found it. They would come in groups of ten or twenty and harass the woodpeckers literally harrying them dive bombing the nest to get the bird watching the nest to come out and defend. When it did others of the starlings would charge the nest. Eventually they had killed the baby woodpeckers and destroyed the nest and driven the parents away. They ate the baby woodpeckers. This is typical behavior for starlings. Starlings were imported by a deeply deranged man who was infatuated with Shakespeare and just absolutely had to import every bird mentioned in the bard's work to the new continent....See MoreStarling resistant suet feeders
Comments (12)Lucky for me starlings are only an occasional problem in my yard. Hordes fly in, stay a week or so and vanish. When they come I use a recycled recycled plastic upside-down feeder like this: (from Suet Bird Feeders) I am loving the recycled plastic over wood, it's so easy to clean and you can even use bleach against mold. Don't think I haven't done a load of bird feeders in my dishwasher. BUT it's not perfectly starling proof - one starling will always figure it out. As an alternative I have a ground table feeder for starlings like this one: from Ground Table Bird Feeders. I use super cheap chicken feed cracked corn (was about $6 for a 50lb bag) and a super cheap millet/milo seed blend ($6 a 25lb bah) that I buy at a local feed store. The ground feeder is a lot easier for the starlings to use, plus they seem to prefer the corn food, so it at least keeps them busy and out of my other bird feeders to a great extent. They don't go through my pricey seed as fast. I've found offering starlings and grackle sort of birds alternative food works pretty well since they are going to be there no matter what I do. Jays also like the ground table....See MoreStarling hordes
Comments (13)Thankfully I've seldom had to deal with grackles and starlings, but when they have appeared, chasing them off with a Viking yell and a broom eventually seemed to drive them away permanently, as well as entertaining my neighbors. Of course it probably helped that I never ground feed, had no platform or other feeders they could access, and the vast majority of spilled seed was Nyjer, which they can't eat. So - slim pickin's, combined with crazy broom-wielding lady = starling-grackle-elimination-success! Taking it a step further, when I eliminated all mixes and went to feeding one kind of seed per feeder (sunflower seeds in one, nyjer in the other), many other pests stopped coming by. Apparently millet is much-beloved of several pesky species. Finally, switching to clingers-only feeders eliminated the mob of English house sparrows that had taken over my yard last year, driving off ALL the other birds, including the hummers. This year I may see one or two HOSPs going after spilled seed but they never stay long. The hummers have never returned, though....See More
User
8 years agoI'm having issues with Starlings too. I've been feeding the birds for years and would seem them occasionally but nothing like lately - they are everywhere! I don't know what to do. I scare them off sometimes and the smaller birds stay put. I do have a couple of tube feeders with cages that prevent them from using them but what about the Cardinals and other decent size birds (?)
They go nuts over my suet too, basically everything I have out. Let me know if you come of up with any solutions.
Sylvia Da Costa
8 years agoUser
8 years agoSylvia Da Costa
8 years agoUser
8 years agoHi Sylvia Da Costa -
thanks for the update. I'm happy to hear you're toughing it out.Yesterday
I felt so bad taking my feeders down at lunch so after work I stopped by my
local feed mill and picked up some black striped sunflower seed (shell on) -
the shells on the striped are supposedly harder to crack so I bought them
hoping the starlings couldn't crack them, but the cardinals could. I also
bought an upside down suet feeder which is supposed to help with starlings
(even though I read some can and will hang upside down). When I came home for
lunch today there wasn't a startling in sight - I was relieved but there were
also less birds all together :(
I
couldn't take not feeding them (like normal) lol so I put out a
couple more feeders today, with mix of reg seed and some premium
sunflower hearts and peanuts (shell removed) - sure enough two starlings
showed up - but I can handle that. I just can't handle 30 starlings and 80
in the tree nearby.
I'm
hoping with time, and as I continue to feed mostly only shelled seed, the
starlings keep away. Once I feel more confident they are gone then I'll sneak
out the good stuff for the birds I enjoy seeing.
I
may buy a caged peanut feeder soon because I hate to stop
feeding peanuts too. Here's the one I found that I like so far. I don't
know if the starlings beaks can reach in far enough (?) I'm hoping not. Duncraft sells this one for $39.95. I prefer to buy one local if I can find something similar.
And for my little downy woodpeckers, I may buy this suet feeder from DrsFosterandSmith. Woodpeckers are one my favs to watch too! The norther flicker is always a delight to see.
Sylvia Da Costa
8 years ago
dbobul