How to get rid of starlings (Page 2): A pest yes, but actually in the right light can be quite attractive. Great opportunity to practice your bird photography and come away with some...

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

A pest yes, but actually in the right light can be quite attractive. Great opportunity to practice your bird photography and come away with some great starling shots. They will be gone soon enough probably.

Canisdirus

Just remove the feeder. I had the same problem.
I removed the feeders...and placed small handfuls in a few spots.
The local yard birds received the benefit.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

Like others who've shared your problem, the only solution seems to be to leave your feeder empty for a few days until the Starlings move on.

When a migrating flock visits my house, they're like locusts. They turn over just about every stick, stone and leaf, even in my gutters, looking for insects including ticks so I appreciate them giving my yard a good cleaning.

sourdough58 Loc: Maine

AGO wrote:

I was having a problem with terns so I hired some neighborhood kids to throw pebbles at them to scare them away. The instruction I gave the kids was "Don't let a single tern go unstoned."

Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.

Good one Thanks

sourdough58 Loc: Maine

This may work.
https://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/RTProduct.asp?SKU=DY-YCPW-180&src=froogle&kw=DY-YCPW-180&gclid=Cj0KCQiAmfmABhCHARIsACwPRABPtL04zUXl8GHYJjaVVe5h3A8I6zkywp7yTz0GAylKTfljsE9S3PwaAnrHEALw_wcB

EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace

A few years ago I had a problem with the starlings cleaning out my bird feeders. Then I heard that the farmers and ranchers in the area were complaining to the city/county/state governments about the starlings invading their farms and ranches and wanting something done about them. Heard some government agency put out poison that supposedly only affected only starlings. Don't know the actually validity of the story but haven't seen any starlings around here in years.

Canisdirus

EdJ0307 wrote:

A few years ago I had a problem with the starlings cleaning out my bird feeders. Then I heard that the farmers and ranchers in the area were complaining to the city/county/state governments about the starlings invading their farms and ranches and wanting something done about them. Heard some government agency put out poison that supposedly only affected only starlings. Don't know the actually validity of the story but haven't seen any starlings around here in years.

As usual, not everything is as it appears.
Starlings and crows have both been accused by farmers of eating their crops...
But a study showed that what the birds were really eating (about 90%) were insect pests.
Like chickens...they clean up the garden and fields.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

Curmudgeon wrote:

12 gauge shotgun with # 9 shot. It won't defeat them but it will make you feel much better.

Seriously, Starlings are like Grackles, large enough that you can place wire mesh like chicken wire around the feeders with a mesh size large enough to let the small birds in but keep the Starlings out. It has worked for me in the past.

I don't know what kind of community you live. I certainly shoot varmints on my property. If you live in a city then you can't do this.

One cannot shoot game animals ( without a hunting license) or native song birds. European Starlings (These blackbirds have small white spots on them) and English sparrows are not native and are thus OK. Other native black birds such as Grackles, Cow Birds, etc cannot be captured or shot. Know your birds!

Declining to feed birds or using screen of the right size may be your only choices

Wyantry Loc: SW Colorado

I once wired up a feeders perch and tray with 240 volts on a switch. Worked.

Starling breasts are nice when lightly grilled.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

We get birds called grackles. They roost by the tone and defecate on everything, not fun if you come out and can't drive your car till you slosh off the layers of white guano on the windows. It is such a problem at this time of year that the city of San Antonio has altered ordinances to allow loud fire crackers to drive them away.

Our solution was to tie the long silver (also other shiny metallic decorations) that is called garland from Christmas decorations. It drive birds away even with out wind to move the sparkly bangles. Of course you may end up tying your to small pulleys to allow feeding times for your selected feathered guests, then raise your metallic 'go away signals' when the other birds descend.

rick_n_wv Loc: Charleston WV

Curmudgeon wrote:

Seriously, Starlings are like Grackles, large enough that you can place wire mesh like chicken wire around the feeders with a mesh size large enough to let the small birds in but keep the Starlings out. It has worked for me in the past.

Only problem with that is other birds of any size can't reach the food either. My neighbor has a pellet rifle which is quiet. Even the accurate higher end air rifles are cheaper than shot guns. Especially when you start figuring in shells. He got over 30 the first day. Then they stared thinning out and after a few days it only needs maintenance. His efforts seem to take care of them coming to my yard too. Reading I found out they are territorial and form flocks. In some places a flock can be over 200.

jbhess

I purchased a Droll Yankee Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder and Shelter today. IAW, a tube feeder within a cage with
1 1/2" openings that hopefully Cardinals can enter but Starlings cannot. It has four feeding openings into the feeding tube, two of which have cardinal perches, because Cardinals cannot stand on a single perch. It has a clear plastic dome to protect against weather and an open bottom to prevent debris buildup. I no longer need Smoking Hot sunflower seeds because there is no way a squirrel can get at the food. If they eat the plain sunflower seeds that fall on the ground, I care not. But they do so at their peril from my .22 cal pellet rifle. I will use a 9 power scope on a bean bag rest on my photography tripod. The pellet rifle is quiet but deadly at 30 feet.

Now I just need some artificial branches nearby for birds to sit on to momentarily pose so I can get their picture. I hung the new feeder this evening and will post results, good. bad or otherwise.

FunkyL Loc: MD

Ok, I know starlings are invasive, drive out native birds and never should have been brought here. None the less, I have a guilty admiration for their intelligence and determination. We live in an old fixer upper, and the city required that we put the dangerously run down back porch at the top of our list. There were 2 active bird nests - a pigeon, and a starling, both with chicks. We moved both nests to locations as close as we could find to the original. The pigeons nest was in plain sight, and hearing, and the parents never found it. They just wandered around where the nest had been, looking lost and confused. The starlings found theirs within 10 minutes, and braved our construction activity to continue feeding their young. A cat found the nest, and I moved the surviving chick and the torn up nest again, and they found it again. A storm washed it out, and I moved it into a covered plastic box, and they found it again.

jbhess

I will certainly agree that starlings, grackles and blackbirds are intelligent and persistent. Pigeons not so much.
I have realistic plastic hawks and owls sitting about. Starlings ignore them in a couple of days. The Droll Yankee Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder and Shelter was hung today. The little birds quickly began feeding well. So far the Cardinals have not figured out how to get in. They are just eating what is dropped on the ground. The feeder advertisement shows Cardinals can get in. Some are pretty fat. We'll see if they figure out how to enter the
1 1/2" cage squares. Squirrels, blackbirds and starlings have no chance and I no longer have to buy Smokin' Hot sunflower seeds to stave off squirrels which saves me $10/bag.

Now I need some artificial branches or a stump or two to give them something on which to pose.