How to get rid of starlings from feeders? (5 tips)

Starlings, with soft, pointed and thin beaks, are among the most noisy birds. These beautiful large birds not only make noise but also show aggression towards other birds. Starlings often compete with other birds for food. They can not only attack other birds but can also harm and kill them. Therefore, it is important to keep these aggressive birds away from the feeder to protect other birds.

Following simple tips is considered best to get rid of starlings from feeders.

• Use a caged bird feeder
• Put selective food in the feeder
• Make use of starling predators’ decoys
• Scare starlings with distress sounds
• Distract starlings with their favorite food

Use a caged bird feeder:

Using a caged bird feeder is one of the most effective ways to get rid of starlings from the feeder. A caged feeder prevents starlings from eating from the feeder. It usually consists of a feeder tube surrounded by a strong metal cage. An 11-diameter cage feeder is considered best for keeping stars away. You can hang the cage feeder from a sturdy support or tree branch.

Starlings may try to eat when you put food in the feeder. But, the cage prevents the entry of these large birds. As a result, they cannot enter the cage and fail to eat. Thus, they stay away from the feeder.

Put selective food in the feeder:

You must put the selected food in the feeder. This means that you should avoid adding the starling’s favorite food like soft grains, peanut chips, cracked corners, etc. to the bird feeder. These types of foods encourage starlings to come to the feeder. Therefore, you should avoid consuming these foods.

Starlings have soft bills, so they find it difficult to eat hard foods such as shelled peanuts, striped sunflower, nyjer seeds, black oil sunflower and saffron. Therefore, you should put these foods in the feeder. They avoid it whenever they come to eat. This way you can keep the stars away from the feeder.

Make use of starling’s predators decoys:

Scaring birds, including starlings, using decoys is the most common way to get them off the feeder. You can find a wide variety of decoys in the market, such as owl and hawk decoys. Owls and hawks are common predators of birds, including starlings. So their decoys are useful in keeping starlings away from feeders.

You can place these decoys vertically near the feeders. Moreover, you can also place them on the branches of nearby trees or hang them from a rope. Starlings can become frightened and fly away whenever they come into contact with these decoys.

Scare starlings with distress sounds:

Also, you can use a variety of painful sounds to scare away the stars. Distress sounds are usually produced by gadgets found in the market. These gadgets can work on electric connection or charged batteries. They make the sounds of different bird predators.

Place this gadget near the feeder and turn it on. It produces painful sounds. When starlings hear these sounds, they infer the presence of predators and move away from the feeder area.

Distract starlings with their favorite food:

Distracting starlings by keeping their favorite food away from the feeder can keep starlings away from the feeder. Starlings, like other birds, fly many miles to find food. They land in the area, eating their favorite food. So putting the starling’s favorite food in the feeder is foolish.

To keep them away, you should keep their favorite food miles away from the feeder. The best distance is to place food 15 or more miles away. Starlings land in this area and start feeding. After that they will not come near the feeder.