starlings and cowbirds oh my!

[Marthe48]

I have been feeding the birds. So far this winter, have had a good mix of cardinals, wrens, jays, woodpeckers and finches. And a mockingbird. Today, with snow on the ground, about 100-150 blackbirds invaded the yard. I don't mind feeding all of the birds, but I filled the feeders this morning. Within a couple of hours, the feeders were almost empty and no sign of the horde being sated. When I saw how many blackbirds there were and how they were crowding out the rest of the species, I took some old bread crusts from the freezer and crumbled them up, hoping to fill the invaders up and keep them off the feeders. They ate all of that, and hogged the feeders, the ground, all of the places I put seed. About an hour ago, I thought they had had enough, so I started tapping on the windows, stepping outside. I have some vintage noisemakers and I got one from the cupboard. After about a 1/2 hour of tapping on different windows, and stepping out different doors, they seem to be gone. For now. The good news is that the birds I feed regularly don't mind the noise and fly in to eat as soon as the blackbirds are gone. I read on Birds and Blooms to put the feeders under canopy type covers and put a deep container right under the feeders to catch dropped seeds. I'll see if I have anything I can use.

Also, I had a big hawk on the ground in the yard this morning, right when I got up. When I filled the feeders, I looked at the ground where I'd seen it, and looks like it got a bird. I have all of the feeders in shrubs, so the birds have some cover. If I use canopies, maybe that'll give the birds a little more protection from the hawk, although the hawk was in an open area when I saw it. Even though I am trying to be fair to all of the birds, I don't like it when I'm luring them in to a possible death.

Any news from your feeders?

[soothsayer]

1. Really dislike starlings and cowbirds but don't see as many as when I was a kid

Mostly cardinals and sparrows and crows and robins.

[Arkansas Granny]

2. I have had large flocks of blackbirds in the past, but this year I've only seen a few starlings at

any one time. They mostly eat the seed that I throw on the sidewalk, but will go to the feeders from time to time. I have seen hawks in the yard and signs that they have taken a bird now and then, but even hawks have to eat so I don't get too upset. They would be hunting these birds whether I put out feeders or not.

My feeders are somewhat sheltered by the big pecan tree, the crepe myrtle and a small smoke tree. The ground is clear underneath so cats can't ambush them. The little feral cat I feed likes to sit on the porch and watch the birds, but she shows no sign whatsoever of trying to hunt them. She doesn't seem excited by them, her tail doesn't twitch, she doesn't "chatter" at them. The birds know she's there, but they don't seem to have any reservations about feeding while she's watching.

[Marthe48]

5. This was the most I've seen in the last several months

Even last fall, during migration, the flocks were much smaller. All of the bird species seem fewer. I was happy to have so many cardinals coming to the yard.

The neighbor on the next street has well-fed, healthy, sleek, roaming cats, who come in my yard to hunt. I've been discouraging them too. I wish I would get up earlier than I do, probably scare them out enough they wouldn't come back.

[Backseat Driver]

3. Limited budget means irregularly full feeder here.

It's in a blooming crabapple tree, but all the tiny frozen fruit is now gone. Go through two 40 lb bags of seed and about six 40 lb bags of cracked corn every 3-4 weeks. That's a lot of $ out of the monthly SS and gig job of DH. Even so, not much variety of birds at the feeder this year - a few cardinals for the less plentiful sunflower seeds and mainly sparrows for the mixed seeds. They tend to kick it out of the feeder but not many takers on the ground by evidence of footprints.

Haven't even seen the squirrel or rarer rabbit gorging lately...it's weird. Better/easier more regular fills elsewhere? You'd think they were pretty used to leashed dogwalkers in the complex.

The feral domestic ducks (8) in our pond are sitting in the middle of the pond most of day just trying to keep some water open and come twice a day to the shoreline for some supplemental cracked corn. That open water is fairly protective, except for big bird predators. So Please - no eagles, hawks, or owls! Don't want to lose any of the ducks, but hey, hawks gotta eat too and that's the way of the free-range world of waterfowl (mallards/Canadian Geese visit too, mainly for the cornfest we put out for the share) on rental properties. Management made us take down the "duck hut." The ducks are all hardy souls, but I still feel bad for them when it gets so cold and snowy.

[Marthe48]

8. We do the best we can

Sounds like you are getting a few 'customers' anyway I actually called the IRS many years ago and asked if feeding birds could be deducted. I got a very curt NO. lol

[Harker]

4. Common Redpolls are suddenly... common here.

I'm in my first upstate NY winter, at the southern extremity of their wintering range.

Still shocked at seeing a wild turkey killing a chickadee last week.

[Marthe48]

9. That's has to be a once in a lifetime sight!

Never heard of predator turkeys.

[Harker]

12. I hope it is.

Some of my best friends are chickadees.

The deep snow shortens the distance between feeders and ground level. Either the turkey jumped for it, or it was getting seeds from the surface.

I didn't see the capture... just noticed a turkey running around with what I initially thought was a piece of plastic flapping in its mouth.

[Marthe48]

13. Something you can't unsee

although you can wish!

[Brother Buzz]

6. We don't do feeders, but we just had our yearly visit of the Cedar Waxwings

They had a grand time gleaning ever berry from our cotoneaster, then moved on.

Our neighbor's cat, who resides on our front porch, was very engaged. She tagged one last year, but struck out this year.

[TexasProgresive]

7. Every year in late winter we have brown headed cowbirds take over our feeders

This year it has been grackles. We had a visit from starlings and cowbirds but not for long. I have 3 large Stokes feeders, on smaller feeder and a tiny (1 quart) British phone box feeder. I think it takes 15 to 20 pounds of bird seed to fill them which I did this morning. At 3 PM the large feeders are 3/4 emptied while the smaller ones are empty. I wish they would go back to town.

[Marthe48]

10. They just don't stop

I had a new feeder I haven't put out, but i filled it with black oil sunflower seeds and stuck it in a shrub right by the house. Some of my regulars have found it, but so far the blackbirds haven't. No grackles yet. I knew there was another kind of blackbird, but today just the ones I mentioned.

Those must be really big feeders.

[Marie Marie]

11. The last few days, I've had about a dozen crows scavenging around my feeder

looking for any small morsel to eat because everything is still covered in snow. I felt so sorry for them as I knew they had to be really hungry to show up for tiny bits of birdseed.

[Marthe48]

14. I ended up standing outside for 20 minutes

distanced from the feeders so the birds I wanted to eat would land. A lot of them know and trust me, not perching on my shoulder, but as soon as I fill a feeder, they jump right on.

The blackbirds slowly got the hint and flew further away. I noticed I didn't hear as many of their chirps, squawks, raucous noises. The other birds were getting to eat, so I came in. I looked a little later and saw a couple blackbirds back in the yard, so I went back out. One flew to a neighbor's tree and while I was looking at it, a huge flock of blackbirds flew over, flying s.w. toward the river. I figured they were done for the day, so I was headed into the house and saw a smaller flock headed the same way. Maybe today was a migration event. I've often seen flocks joining up in the sky, swirling and circling as they mingle. That is kind of cool to see, but hoping I don't have the whole flock in my yard again.