Because you provide food for wild birds, at some point you are likely to be visited by a bird or another wild animal that you may or may not deem welcome. Below are some suggestions for how to deal with these visitors.
While some people welcome any bird regardless of its size or appetite, others get frustrated when grackles, starlings, pigeons, or crows overrun their feeders. To discourage these larger birds from becoming a nuisance, use feeders that are made for smaller birds, such as tube feeders that have short perches and no catch basin on the bottom. Avoid platform trays and don’t spread food on the ground.
At some point you can expect a visit from a hawk, usually a Sharp-shinned Hawk or a Cooper’s Hawk. At first you’ll probably welcome the close-up view but if your hawk stays around and scares your feeder birds away, what can you do? The best solution is to take your feeders down for a few days. The hawk will get hungry and move on.
Though it’s fun to watch a persistent squirrel finagle its way to your bird food, it’s less amusing if they overrun your feeders and discourage your feeder birds from visiting. One way to outwit these furry-tailed rodents is to distract them by feeding them peanuts or dried ears of corn in a location some distance from your feeders. This tactic might not work for long, however. You also can try "squirrel-proof" bird feeders. But beware: we’ve watched one squirrel after another outwit numerous varieties.
Squirrel baffles are usually your best bet. These are simply barriers that are placed between squirrels and feeders. On pole-mounted feeders, baffles should be fixed in place beneath the feeder. On hanging feeders, a tilting baffle—at least 18 inches in diameter—should be installed above the feeder. In addition to commercially made PlexiglasTM baffles, bird watchers have used old record albums, plastic salad bowls, two-liter soda bottles, even stovepipes. Another hint for suspended feeders: try hanging them from a three to four-foot length of monofilament fishing line instead of wire. Also, if your feeder is hung from from a horizontal line, try placing lengths of plastic tubing around the line; the tubing should spin when a squirrel tries to walk on it.
There is also a hopper-style feeder designed to deter squirrels. Most utilize a spring loaded or counter weighted gate that closes off access to the seed ports under the squirrel's weight. This weight adjustment can be altered to selectively exclude larger, non-target birds as well. Some bird watchers have been using seeds that are coated with hot pepper or capsaicin products. Theoretically, squirrels avoid the coated seed while birds are unaffected. Researchers at Cornell University continue to test this theory.
Cats are the most numerous pet in North America. Unfortunately, they kill hundreds of millions of birds each year. Ground-feeding and ground-nesting birds and fledglings are at greatest risk. Feeder birds are also easy prey.
If you own a cat, we strongly recommend that you keep it indoors to reduce this needless loss. The American Bird Conservancy has created the Cats Indoors! Campaign to increase awareness of the problem. For more information, contact: American Bird Conservancy, Cats Indoors! 1250 24th Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20037. Phone: (202)778-9666.
If bears, raccoons, deer, or moose become a nuisance the best tactic is to make your feeders inaccessible with fencing. If that approach is impractical, you’ll probably have to take down your feeders temporarily. Like hawks, mammals will find new foraging routes. If your mammalian visitors appear only at night, take in your feeders at dusk.
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We thank the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Project FeederWatch for providing this material. Project FeederWatch relies upon the observations of bird-feeding enthusiasts, like you, to help them learn more about feeder birds. We encourage you to join Project FeederWatch by calling the Lab at (800) 843-2473. Or click on the button to learn more.
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