Expert: Roger Lederer - 12/10/2006

Question
Somehow my feeder seems to have been adopted by a flock of starlings.  There are +/- 20 of them, and they just throw uneaten seed all over the place....  Is there some way I can discourage them without discouraging the good species ?  Preferential feeding, etc...

I normally feed a very good quality general mix in a 3 tube feeder and a side dish of Purina's Chickadee Deelight - which is hulled sunflowers, peanuts and other nuts.  They do not seem to pay attention to this dish for some reason.

I am frustrated because they will throw about 10 lbs of food all over the ground every day if I let them - not to mention it's in my dog yard, so I have my dogs eating all this bird seed....

Thanks,

-Beth

Answer
It is hard to separate bird species when they eat similar foods. Notice that Starlings ignore the side dish of larger seeds,though. They only like the smaller seeds. So if you eliminate the smaller seeds you will probably get rid of the starlings. Of course, some other birds will leave as well, but there is not much else you can do. Roger Lederer at Ornithology.com