Bully birds are a nuisance, but you can take some simple
steps to prevent them from dominating your feeders—and
allow less aggressive avian visitors to enjoy your hospitality
SOMETIMES it’s downright irritating to watch bully
birds, such as blue jays, swoop down onto bird feeders,
sending panicked goldfinches, juncos and chickadees flying.
Or to watch as European starlings crowd a feeder so that
smaller, less aggressive birds don’t have a chance
to eat. Such bratty behavior has caused some people to
throw in the towel and stop filling feeders altogether.
But you don’t have to give up. Here are some easy
ways to control the bullies so that other birds might
enjoy your hospitality:
Go modern:
New innovations in feeder construction can limit the size
of the birds that are able to feed in your yard—and
bully birds are generally larger than most of the more
“desirable” feeder birds. Look for a rubber-coated
mesh that surrounds traditional tube, suet and tray feeders.
It allows smaller birds to pass through and enter the
feeding chamber. Bullies, such as blackbirds, pigeons
and crows, can’t squeeze through the mesh to reach
the food. The downside is that desirable birds such as
northern cardinals are also too large to enter the food
chamber.
Take cover:
Starlings are known for their love of suet cakes, and
it is not unusual for them to eat a whole cake in a single
day. To stymie starlings, hang your suet feeder under
a domed squirrel baffle or buy a starling-proof suet feeder,
which allows birds access to food only from beneath the
feeder. Starlings are reluctant to go under any sort of
cover.
Catch seeds:
Many people find that foiling bully birds at feeders isn’t
quite enough because they often eat the food that the
other birds drop on the ground. To solve this problem,
place a garbage can under a hanging feeder. The bullies
are not likely to fly into the can to get the discarded
seed.
Be selective:
Selective feeding is yet another way to control the kinds
of birds that eat at your feeders. Generally, bully birds
do not like safflower or nyjer (thistle) seeds. By offering
just those seeds—and not wild bird seed mixes—only
finches, chickadees, nuthatches, cardinals and grosbeaks
will come to the feeders to dine.
Aid acrobats:
Bully species usually require a perch to hold onto while
eating, but most finches and many other small feeder birds
can eat without perching at food ports. Finches can cling
to the sides of a tube feeder and eat all day long. Bullies
can’t. Some commercial tube feeders have perches
above the food ports, where the birds have to stretch
downward to feed—something that bully birds can’t
do either.
Use bottles:
Thwart suet-eating bullies at a cagelike feeder by inserting
a long perch that extends out both sides, placing a small
soda bottle over each end. When a bully lands on a soda
bottle, the weighty visitor rolls off the perch. Smaller
birds are too light to roll off the bottles while feeding,
or they can cling to the wire cage.
Offer alternatives:
A male hummingbird is often aggressive and protective
of a sugar-water feeder that he considers his own. Only
“his females” and their young are allowed
to feed undisturbed. All other hummers are chased away.
The simple solution to this problem is to set up an additional
sugar-water feeder on another side of your house, out
of sight of the other male’s domain. He can’t
guard a feeder that he can’t see.
Buy weights:
Look for a bird feeder that has a weighted perch or treadle.
When larger, heavier birds land on a treadle, it drops
down over the bird food. (This device works against squirrels,
too.) Lightweight birds can reach the food because the
treadle does not drop down when they perch.
Hang mirrors:
Birdhouses for woodpeckers, wood ducks and owls are often
taken over by European starlings. To keep the foreigners
at bay, place a small mirror on the back wall facing the
entryway so that starlings see their own “scary”
reflections when they land at the door. The mirror doesn’t
seem to deter other birds.
Play music:
Just when the strawberries and grapes are ready for picking,
a variety of birds will descend on a garden patch to consume
the fruit. One way to deter these critters is to set up
a radio in the garden that plays loud music. It’ll
scare even the boldest invaders.
Field Editor George H. Harrison is the author of
more than a dozen books on backyard wildlife.
