Starlings, having soft, pointed, and slender beaks, are among the noisiest birds. These beautiful large birds are not only noisy but also show aggressiveness toward other birds. Starlings mostly compete with other birds for food. They cannot only attack other birds but can also harm and even kill them. So, it is necessary to keep these aggressive birds away from feeders 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 favourite food
Use a caged bird feeder:
Using a caged bird feeder is one of the most effective ways to get rid of starlings from feeders. A caged feeder prevents the starlings from eating from the feeder. It usually consists of a feeder tube that is surrounded by a strong metal cage. A cage feeder with a diameter of 11 is considered the best to keep starlings away. You can hang the cage feeder with strong support or a branch of a tree.
When you put food in the feeder the starlings may try to eat the food. But, the cage blocks the entrance of these large birds. As a result, they cannot enter the cage and fail to eat the food. Thus, they stay away from the feeder.
Put selective food in the feeder:
You must put selective food in the feeder. It means that you must avoid putting starling’s favorite food in the bird’s feeder like soft grains, peanut chips, cracked corners, etc. Such types of food urge the starlings to come to the feeder. So, you must avoid using these foods.
The starlings have softbills so they feel difficulty in eating hard food such as shelled peanuts, striped sunflower, nyjer seeds, black-oil sunflower, and safflower. So, you must put these foods in a feeder. Whenever they come to eat food, they avoid it. In this way, you can keep starlings away from the feeder.
Make use of starling’s predators decoys:
Scaring birds, including starlings, by using decoys is the most common way to get rid of them from the feeders. You can find a large variety of decoys, such as owl and hawk decoys, in the market. Owls and hawks are the common predators of the birds including starlings. So their decoys are effective in keeping starlings away from the feeder.
You can place these decoys vertically near the feeders. Moreover, you can also place them on the branches of the nearby trees or hang them with rope. The starlings may get scared and fly away whenever they come in contact with these decoys.
Scare starlings with distress sounds:
Moreover, you can also use different types of distress sounds to frighten the starlings. The distress sounds are commonly produced by a gadget found on the market. These gadgets may work on electric connections or charged batteries. They produce sounds of different bird predators.
Place this gadget near the feeder and turn it on. It produces distress sounds. When starlings hear these sounds, they assume the presence of predators and stay away from the feeder area.
Distract starlings with their favourite food:
Distracting starlings by putting their favorite food away from the feeder can keep the starlings away from the feeder. Starlings, like other birds, fly many miles to search for food. They land in the area, having their favorite food. So putting the starling’s favorite food in the feeder is stupidity.
To keep them away, you must put their favorite food miles away from the feeder. The best distance is to keep the food 15 or more miles away. The starlings land in that area and start eating. After that, they will not come near the feeder.
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