Wow I've never had a starling come to my feeders..What kind of bird seed are you feeding them.

They particularly love my suet feeder and peanut feeder. They bully the smaller woodpeckers away and the nuthatches and chickadees are scared to even attempt to use the feeder. The red bellied woodpecker will peck right back at starlings. Thankfully they leave the seeds alone as I only purchase "in shell" seeds

I'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.

I love the blue jays attitude! I had about 20 starlings at the feeders today - even gobbling up safflower seeds on the ground that the squirrel knocked out. I haven't found anything to deter them besides going out and scaring them - I have noticed that they only come when the temperature drops - today it didn't get above 10 degrees so I didn't bother going out to scare them hah

Sylvia Da Costa - any luck with getting rid of the starlings?

My situation got much worse. I'm talking like a 100 or more. They weren't all at my feeders at once, instead they would come in groups of like 20-30 and the rest were perched high up in my neighbor's tree, making awful squawking noises.

Yesterday my feeders were bone dry and I refill them every morning. I'm betting the starlings ate 98% too. Today I put out two small tube feeders with cages around them (they were super cheap on sale) and the starlings attached to the wire and their long ugly beaks reached the sunflower hearts. So I took down all but two thistle feeders at lunch. And I felt so bad doing this :(

I started researching online and finding better tube feeders with bigger cages but they are pricey and cardinals can't use them. So I kept searching and read in a couple of different places that starlings have a hard time breaking shells of seed.

For years I only fed black sunflower seed with the shell, suet, and thistle and never had starlings. It wasn't until I recently added sunflower hearts (shell removed) and peanuts (with the shell removed) that I noticed starlings. So I removed the sunflower hearts and peanuts. Right now I just have sunflower seeds and peanuts with the shell on... I'm hoping they leave.

It's about the same here. 20-30 daily. Eating up all the suet and even peanut feeder. My other feeders I have safflower in shell and black oil sunflower in shell but I've seen them sit under those and gobble anything the other birds drop. Removing the suet and peanut feeders doesn't seem like an option as I get many nuthatches and chickadees and a good amount of woodpeckers and Id feel bad as I haven't seen anyone in the area with suet feeders. I'm just going to tough it out til the end of winter when I can cut back on feeding and keep my fingers crossed for the woodpeckers to nest nearby (they are my favorites to watch)

Hi 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.

They dont like seeds and eat them only if they have no choice, like when ground is covered with snow or frozen and they unable to get grubs as they usually do it. They are insectivores and will leave feeders alone once it warms up and they'll get plenty of insects to eat. Or soak some cheap dog/cat food and put it somewhere else, they will go for it instead of your seeds if you dont want wait. Dont use any peanuts or suet feeders - those meant for insectivores, use only seeds that attract seedeaters.

Yes I already only have seeds out. I'm going to get an upside down suet feeder as I do get a good number of woodpeckers and nuthatches. Today I had a Cooper's Hawk scare off the starlings, which was a plus