Your Birdfeeder Is a Battleground, But the Bigger Birds Don't Always Win

WCAI ^ | FEB 7, 2018 | MARK FAHERTY

[Bratch]

Yeah, I’ve about given up on the bird feeders because of rats.

Not to mention squirrels, chipmunks, possums, and raccoons.

[AFreeBird]

Like liberals? Yea, we have that problem too. Mostly the little birds rule the day.

[AFreeBird]

I have a three tiered deck. My feeder and suet cake hang from the joists of the above deck. And far enough away from the supporting posts. And far enough from the edge, that they can’t climb down from above, or jump to it.
It took time to find the right distance.

I also use bare 12GA copper electrical wire to suspend them. Strong enough, thin enough; no braiding of the wire and no sheathing.

The feeders are just off the kitchen sliding glass doors about six feet. Hours of avian entertainment.

[Oatka]

[Hebrews 11:6]

I’ve been cautioned against using rat poison, because if our dog eats the dead rat, thereby ingesting the poison himself, it’s a minimum $1,000 vet bill to save him.

[Songcraft]

(bump for later)

[Bratch]

Believe it or not, once we removed the food source, the rat family relocated.

Hopefully there will be more owls around this year.

[PA Engineer]

Thanks for the post:

I actually stopped working one day because of all the commotion I was hearing in a tree. A pileated woodpecker was very irate with a couple of red squirrels that took residence in one of it's abandoned nests.

I grabbed a cup of coffee and was rooting on the woodpecker. Red squirrels are nasty and there were two. I could not believe how badly that bird brutalized them. This went on for about 20 minutes and both ultimately jumped from the tree (high up) and scurried off.

I honestly think the bird was celebrating afterwards. Making the sounds that they do (think woody the woodpecker), running up and down the tree, and bobbing his head at me. Of course only then did I think to get my camera. Funny bird, I stepped back out and off he flew.

We have multiple mating pairs on our land and they seem to get along with each other and other birds. They just don't like red squirrels for some reason. Others have said they are shy, however we have a couple that show themselves regularly near our home.

[m422001]

I was watching my feeders one morning when a female cardinal started screaming and thrashing wildly.she all of a sudden disappeared into the feeder.l ran over to discover an oak snake got into the feeder and sucked her into it! Separated the two unharmed and sent them on their way a great distance apart!

[PA Engineer]

Woah. Was that a rat snake or a viper? If the viper, I would have separated myself a great distance apart too.

[Man from Oz]

Thank you very much for the assistance! Much appreciated!

[m422001]

Correct it belongs to the rat snake family.we always called them oak snakes due to where you normally see them.dark grey in pattern.most other types I use to see regularly have disappeared from habitat loss.when pivot use became prevalent then came the bulldozers and trackhoes.lost a lot of forest.

[Original Lurker]

Yeah, big gamer...! :-)
(I poison these bastards 24X7)