3 Ways to Save Water When Getting Ready For Spring
Discouraging Starlings and Grackles
By Duncraft
An onslaught of starlings and grackles can be very discouraging to the backyard bird feeding enthusiast. They eat us out of house and home and then, to make matters worse, they bully the smaller songbirds to keep them away from our feeders. We get lots of questions about starlings at Duncraft. Here are a few products to help you discourage those pesky starlings.
Get the upper hand with an upside down suet feeder. Photograph courtesy of Duncraft.
Starlings and grackles love suet, but they don’t like to eat upside down. A feeder like our durable Eco-Strong Upside Down Suet Feeder or our nifty Touch-Free Suet Feeder will keep the starlings out of the suet. And the woodpeckers and other small clinging birds will enjoy eating in a position that is very natural and comfortable for them.
Starling
We have several seed feeders that discourage the starlings, too. Our Cling-A-Wing attracts goldfinches, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice and their friends but the starlings (and pigeons) aren’t able to eat from them comfortably. The starlings will become downright despondent when you fill the Squirrel Buster Plus with black oil sunflower seeds. You can set the weight mechanism so that the smaller birds can dine peacefully as the starlings watch on in despair.
Grackle
If you’re looking for a super safe birdhouse, check out our Songbird Eco-Friendly House and the cozy Eco Chalet House. They make a great home for bluebirds, chickadees, titmice, wrens and nuthatches, but the high entry hole, predator guard, and squirrel locks help discourage starlings and other predators from getting in. You can also add on the Screw Mount Birdhouse Guardian to your existing birdhouses to keep precious nestlings safe from starlings and other predators.
Discourage starlings and other predators with the Echo Chalet House. Photograph courtesy of Duncraft.
When you’re faced with a starling problem, try one or two of these products to see if that can resolve the issue. If the starlings and grackles continue to be a problem, the best thing to do is just remove your feeders for a few weeks. The greedy interlopers will give up and move on, but your friendly neighborhood birds will soon be flocking back to your feeders.
Remember – it’s better to discourage unwanted pests than to be discouraged by them! Make every day a happy bird day!
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By Dan Heims, President, Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc.
Photographs courtesy of Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc.
Terra Nova’s breeders have created a series of outstanding world-class echinaceas that are consistent in size, bloom power, color intensity and are a pollinator buffet. What’s not to like.
To learn more, click here for an interesting article.
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