Jen.! problem Birds

[River Ranger]

I've got lots of feeders out ,Three with suet.The suet gets me four wood******s that are great to watch but they also get me starlings.I can't stand those birds they take and leave.Any suggestions on how to get rid of them?
R.R.

[Mad Mikey]

Introduce them to Mr. Crossman or his gal "Daisy".......

Make a starling trap out of rabbit wire and pinch their little heads. Starlings are vermin.

[Uglygreen]

Yes starlings are rats with wings - kill them all. My thumb still hurts.

UG

[ 11-29-2003, 04:17 PM: Message edited by: Uglygreen ]

[Jennie@ifish]

Nothing you can do but shoot them. I don't do that, but I do think someone else that lives here might, occasionally.
Not sure. :smile:

Jen

[Thumper]

Waidddaminit!!!! Starlings have mothers. And babies. And needs. And hopes for a better future for their little starlingettes. A world free of rabbit wire and pinched heads and BB guns. A world where all starlings are valued for themselves. For their integrity, their personal values, their unique language and culture. And wonderful, soft fur too. And other stuff. [img]graemlins/hearton.gif[/img]

Well, maybe not fur, but the other stuff [img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img] . Pretty much.

[ 11-29-2003, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: Thumper ]

[STGRule]

Have you tried the type of suet feeders that they have to hang upside down to get to? It has a solid roof and solid sides. Just the bottom is open mesh. The nuthatches don't have much trouble with them. I don't know if the w o o d p e c k e r s could use them but I don't know why not. The starlings have a hard time with them though.

[River Ranger]

Thumper I have not seen those feeders but they sound good.I have been using mad mike's method but they just keep coming.Thanks.
R.R.

[Steel Reign]

Hi Ranger, About those pesky starlings. My Grandpa had the magic cure for them. He filled a wallpaper trough with birdseed and cementdust. Then he put some water near by for them to drink from. Getting the picture yet? Not a good way to go with plugged plumbing but they died away from his place... But starlings also drove the other birds away so none of them ate the mix.

[River Ranger]

Thanks Worm,Thats a good one!
R.R.

[Bill Monroe]

Let's see...cement...in a trough...outside...in Oregon in the winter...Hm...

Our starlings kind of disappeared, but I have no idea what relationship that might have to pellet guns or my occasional tactic of teaching my Lab to retrieve...she'd bring the bird to the back door and get a Milk Bone...Tried it on a house sparrow once (they're also unprotected), but she was so excited she swallowed it before reaching the door...didn't get the Milk Bone and the training was, umm, terminated.

Now, does anyone have a better rat trap or idea to get them out of their condos in my raised garden?

[Pete]

... and then there's my neighbor. She's 84 and enjoys simple pleasures, like feeding corn, peanuts and walnuts to the crows. There's a flock of about 40 that welcome the dawn. Grrrr! I don't want to upset my neighbor, but I don't like the birds, or the walnut trees that seem to be sprouting all over my yard. Shooting isn't an option in my neighborhood ... maybe a pet bobcat? Help, Dear Abby, what should I do?

[Bill Monroe]

Get her interested in other kinds of birds and show her how easy it is?
(crow tastes like duck, by the way...not making that up...it's good to, umm, eat)

[Mad Mikey]

OK,

This is hard for me to admit but I too have a tweety feeder and a bird I.D. book close by.
The starlings in my neighborhood are like a gang of little thugs, they hit you fast and move on. Any little motion near the glass doors and they are GONE.

I rarely get a shot.

I have noticed that they don't seem to bug the feeder but concentrate on the seeds on the ground.
On that note I actually put seeds on the ground because some birds are ground feeders and won't touch the trough which is supspended in a plum tree.

I just wish I could get rid of the raccoons. Now THOSE are over-rated nasty little beasts. I don't care how cute they are.

For several years we had an escaped tame bunny living in our backyard 90% of the time. He was real cool and would come up and let you feed him and be petted, just didn't want to be caught.
Which reminds me of the too many beers/salmon net incident which proved that I was no match for the bunny... [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img]

Anyways, one of the raccoons got the bunny one night in the back yard. I was pretty peeved, gonna miss the little fella...... :depressed:

[kayakfisher]

The potency of the newer rat poisons...coumadin analogs that are very very potent...can result in a dead bird or rat that has enough poison in it to cause problems for a cat that may catch a not quite dead, or freshly dead victim.

m.

[KChookem]

This poem offers a solution to your problem...

The sun was shining brightly,
And I could hardly wait,
To gaze out my window,
And ponder my estate.

Suddenly the calm was broken
By a loud and awful shrill,
From a pretty little bird,
With a bright and shiny bill.

I beckoned him to my window sill
with a crust of bread,
And then I quickly closed the window,
And smashed his little head.

[Ifishsum]

Love it Kchookem keep em coming!

[salmoncatcher]

mix some rat poison in with the bird food

Bad idea. You will kill non-target birds too.

[Carver_OR]

Let them live, they'll migrate to a different place soon. I don't kill anything that I can't eat.

Pat

Carver,
I somewhat agree with you but starlings are
non-indigenous vermin that displace and kill native birds. Starlings are rats with wings.