Feeder advice - deterring the vultures

WilliamC

WilliamC

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Since putting my feeder in 3 weeks ago I've had a significant increase in nice little visitors to my garden to shovel down the suet/peanut/sunflower hearts mixture. It was all going well until this week when the starlings found it, it's now getting assaulted by them constantly, they're scaring off everything else plus emptying it in a couple of days flat leaving nothing for my other (preferred) customers. I've been getting some lovely pictures for a couple of weeks and now getting none :crying:

Is there a simple way of deterring these vultures like putting something else in the mixture that they detest?

TIA
 
Don't use peanuts or fat balls. Both of these seem to attract Starlings more than anything else.

I feed black Sunflower seeds, Niger seed and a wild bird mix and although I get the occasional Starling, it's nothing like the numbers I used to get.

Hope this helps.

Andy
 
Thx, I shall try a different mix see how it goes.

As for the alternative idea, I dunno, we have a particularly nasty breed of house vultures round here. They're more likely to go and get their mates and then assault the photographer. Pity you can't get ASBO's slapped on the things.
 
Interesting, Rich, I'm a complete new boy at garden birds so will look into different designs and see if there's something that suits me and not them.

They were really winding me up today what with it being lovely and sunny, perfect for shots of nice birds which again stayed away thx to the vulture invasion :(
 
I'd stopped putting down seed/nuts/raisins on the ground because it attracted too many starlings.....100s here in the country

now use 2 'squirrel proof' feeders for peanuts and sunflower hearts in the trees

worried me then that the ground-feeders weren't getting a share...dunnocks, blackbirds, wren

i then discovered that - after several days - of a bang on the window, the starlings would always fly away, but the ground feeders became used to it

so i put out ground stuff whilst having breakfast - bang on the window every 5 mins :LOL::LOL:

thank god i dont have any neighbors who therefore would assume i'm mad................:D
 
I've changed the mix today, hardly any peanuts, and the starling numbers have dropped a bit. Good call John! Today I've just had one at a time instead of the entire flock although one of them is clearly deaf, he doesn't care about raps on the window! Let's hope the preferred customers get their courage back and start visiting again.

One thing I've noticed is that I've not seen one bird go near the water I put out for them despite it being probably the only non-frozen water in the area today! Someone nearby must have a preferred source cos they don't want mine despite it being fresh every day.
 
I'm having problems with pigeons, about 20 of the pesky things...!! I don't mind the starlings now and then but these things are costing me a fortune.... :(
 
Be glad you have any birds in the garden. The starling will come and go throughout the year and the other small birds are still prob feeding but prob just when you are not looking :)

Two years ago I had the same problem and now I can't get a single bird in my garden as so many other people around me have feeders :(
 
What's wrong with Starlings? I've only just had some come in the past couple of days, and they're nice to photograph.
 
Starlings are great - wonderfully iridescent, constantly argumentative and entertaining, goose-stepping around the place.

However, if you have lots I can appreciate they could be a pain.

The anti-squirrel cages around feeders keep them out, but the cages are expensive.

Try putting a fat cake (to attract the starlings) somewhere else in the garden away from the seed feeders; it may help.

Dave
 
Cheffievrs said:
I'm having problems with pigeons, about 20 of the pesky things...!! ...................... :(
Click to expand...

if you buy cheap ''wild bird mix'' it will contain a high proportion of barley and cracked corn [yellow] and other rubbish....which pigeons LOVE

get sunflower hearts, peanuts, fat balls, and place ALL in trees rather than the ground and the pigeons will soon go elsewhere..........:D
 
Tringa said:
Try putting a fat cake (to attract the starlings) somewhere else in the garden away from the seed feeders; it may help.
Click to expand...

Oooh now there's an idea! It's only a tiny garden but I might be able to distract them far enough away so as not to scare the others. Having said that thanks to the change in feed-mix the number of vultures has dropped significantly :)

To those who like starlings - yep I can understand it but it was an invasion I had (I'm tempted to say infestation!), not just the odd one or two which I wouldn't mind so much.

The last couple of days with thick snow has seen a splendid increase in use of my feeder from all sorts which would never normally use one, I've even had dunnocks and sparrows clinging on for dear life and looking thoroughly unprofessional at feeding!
 
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