grackles in every tree!!!

I love birds!! I feed them, grow for them, etc., but this weekend, we were sitting on the front porch and couldn't visit because every tree was full of these common birds that make so much noise.....we laughed and came inside to visit

I dread whenever the Starlings, Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds decide to take up residence near my bird feeder. You can sit there and just watch the seed level drop and drop and drop, until nothing is left. Then they're gone ..... When I complain, my wife says, "Well, they have to eat, too".

I notice a lot of Red-winged Blackbirds in your photo. I do enjoy hearing them and watching their mating rituals.

I don't know anything about birds but when I moved out to the farm last May, i began to see birds I have never even seen in the city. I have recently had robins everywhere. Then there are periods when the bluebirds come in.....plus the colorful cardinals, etc.........I can't seem to get pictures because i have screens on my windows. If I go outside it scares them....the closest thing I got a pic was of a bluebird flying away from me when he was aware and then landed up on the electrical line.
No this look like the redbird

We get branches covered with the American Crow - but all I have to do is stand in the window and wave my arms and off they all go!! I'm so ferocious, you know!

Linthicum,

You have a lot of company! I hate it also when they all "discover" that I have just filled my feeders and decide to spend the whole day emptying them. I could just shoot them all!

This is almost funny. I have two of those tipple-tube feeders with the squirrel baffle on top. These are BIG feeders! They sell for about $40 at HD. Each "tube" holds about a quart and a half of seed.
I have them hanging under my very high patio roof where they stay dry and no squirrels can get to them. I like them there and plenty of ground-feeders can dine on all the stuff that is picked out and dropped to the floor.

I had just filled them all Tuesday--every tube to the hilt. Well, Wednesday all these black birds discovered them. They are so ravenous! I'd much rather feed all the other birdies which all skitter to the bushes when the "black masses" arrive. I spent almost all day banging on the windows with my rubber-tipped cane (which I no longer need to use) but it sure makes a nice window banger. Every time I banged on the window, a cloud of black birds would take off and sit in the tree and wait until the coast was clear. Then down they would all come. They would see me through the window. All I had to do was stand up and off they would go. I did this almost all day, but it is such a lost cause. They emptied all 6 tubes in 2 days! That's a lot of money! They also devoured all 4 suet cakes I had out, not giving my one and only little woodpecker much of a chance.

Do you all think that if I left the feeders empty for a few days they would "get the message" that breakfast, lunch, dinner and all snacks are no longer served????? Then they could go and raid someone else's feeders. Shooooo! Be gone you bottomless pits!!!
I have so many other smaller and beautiful birds I would rather watch through my LR windows, NOT spend the day banging on them with my fists and my cane! Might break one some day.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Gita

Hi Gita, Try taking down the feeders completely for a few days. If they see empty feeders hanging there they'll just assume your going to come out and fill them again sooner or later.
Be sure to take down the suet too. The only type of suet they do not like is the plain beef suet.

This message was edited Mar 10, 2007 2:29 PM

This message was edited Mar 10, 2007 2:30 PM

And we've had a certain bit of luck discouraging the marauders with safflower seed in the feeders instead of black oil sunflower seed. (We still had to take ours down once this season because we had so much suet out during the cold snap and every nasty in the county had discovered our address.) And NO cracked corn--even in the suet for our birds.

linth--how could you tell there were red-winged blackbirds in the photo? Is it the shape of the bird? I could not make out any red/yellow in the wings--but my eyes are not that great...

I see one at the top center.