Feeding Wild Birds

[alinas2010]

House Sparrow
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Such cute babies!! But they’re little piggies at my feeders

 

[R2elk]

Such cute babies!! But they’re little piggies at my feeders

This one is still being fed.

It's when they find your chicken feed that you find out how much they eat.

 

[alinas2010]

This one is still being fed.

It's when they find your chicken feed that you find out how much they eat.

The starlings have been terrible about getting into the chicken feed here!

 

[Gill-b]

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A pair of Pied Bardets have been visiting my garden regularly. It is farely common bird here, but still lovely to see them. I think they are part of the woodpecker family? ...not entirely sure.

 

[R2elk]

The starlings have been terrible about getting into the chicken feed here!

I used to have a problem with them. Starlings and House Sparrows are listed as invasive species and are not protected.

I only feed inside. When I went to "war" againsy them, I would go into the coop after dark and turn on the lights. I used a pellet gun and would kill every starling on the coop.

When the starlings moved in I went from using 50 lbs. of feed every 2 weeks to using 100 lbs. of feed a week.

After years of killing every starling that went in the coop, now no starlings go in the coop.

 

[Gill-b]

I think they are part of the woodpecker family? ...not entirely sure.

I Googled it...

"The Pied barbet is not a woodpecker. While they belong to the same order (Piciformes), they are in different families: barbets are in the family Lybiidae, while woodpeckers are in the family Picidae. Both barbets and woodpeckers share the habit of drilling holes into wood for nests and foraging, but they are distinct groups within the larger Piciformes order."

The main reason I was not entirely sure is that the Pied barbet's Afrikaans name is 'Bonthoutkapper'. A word 'houtkapper' means 'woodpecker'.

 

[alinas2010]

I used to have a problem with them. Starlings and House Sparrows are listed as invasive species and are not protected.

I only feed inside. When I went to "war" againsy them, I would go into the coop after dark and turn on the lights. I used a pellet gun and would kill every starling on the coop.

When the starlings moved in I went from using 50 lbs. of feed every 2 weeks to using 100 lbs. of feed a week.

After years of killing every starling that went in the coop, now no starlings go in the coop.

That’s a lot of feed! My problem is I want all the wild animals to be pets I have a tough time doing more than shooing them away.

 

[R2elk]

That’s a lot of feed! My problem is I want all the wild animals to be pets I have a tough time doing more than shooing them away.

Wild animals are not meant to be pets and can quickly become pests.

House Sparrows and Starlings are not native. They are invasive and quickly over populate and displace the native birds.

 

[alinas2010]

Wild animals are not meant to be pets and can quickly become pests.

House Sparrows and Starlings are not native. They are invasive and quickly over populate and displace the native birds.

Just why do they gotta be so cute

 

[R2elk]

Just why do they gotta be so cute

In my opinion they aren't cute. There are pretty ones such as the orioles, jays, kingbirds and tanagers. Don't forget all the little warbler beauties and a little wren bouncing around.