LITTLE ROCK — People who feed wild birds commit their time and money to keep their feathered friends happy and nearby. For most it’s a labor of love.
One way to help cut costs is to discourage other greedy critters from mooching the bird’s dinner.
Raccoons, possums, rats and skunks can eat more birdseed in a single night than a yard full of songbirds in a month.
So how can you save the seed for the songbirds?
Tuck it in at night. One way to deter nighttime marauders is taking the birdseed-filled feeder indoors each night. If the bird feeders are the type that hang from a hook or can be lifted from a post or shelf, it can be fairly easy. Though moving full feeders twice daily can be a hassle, it is an effective way to deter nighttime pests.
When raccoons are foiled this way repeatedly, they usually find easier pickings elsewhere on their regular nightly prowls.
Put Bowser on it. If you have a large dog and fenced-in yard, you can leave the dog outside at night so it can chase away unwanted guests. This only works if the dog is interested in protecting its turf and has access to the feeder area.
Baffle them. Platform feeders on posts can be made inaccessible to raccoons and possums by placing cone shaped predator guards or baffles on the posts that support the feeders. These devices can be homemade or are available at well-stocked hardware stores and retailers that specialize in bird-watching supplies. In addition to hindering the nocturnal pests, baffles also restrict squirrels in the daytime.
The guards should be placed at least 32 inches above the ground so determined bandits cannot jump above them and grasp the post to pull themselves up. However, these barriers will be ineffective if tree limbs, porch railings or other such structures are close enough to allow a critter to leap or reach out and grab the feeder, so place feeder in a place well out in the open.
Keep the cats away. Don’t let your bird feeder become a cat feeder. Domestic cats are a great source of danger to birds in urban and suburban areas. Using predator guards and placing feeders in the open will offer some measure of protection. Even a well-fed cat will kill a bird if it can catch it.
A NOTE FOR WARMER DAYS
Though it’s not the season for hummingbirds, unwanted guests intent on sipping the sweet solution are also attracted to their feeders.
If squirrels have taken a liking to the nectar in your hummingbird feeder, deter them by hanging it on a steel wire strung tightly between two trees, or between a post and a tree that are at least eight or more feet apart. The kind of wire used to tie rebar together in concrete, available at any hardware or lumber yard, works well. Any size 14 (American wire gauge) or smaller steel wire will do, but copper wire stretches and sags too much under the weight of a filled hummingbird feeder.
Hang the feeder on the wire with an “S” hook midway between the supports so it is too far for a squirrel to leap from a tree onto the feeder. Some squirrels may master the art of walking the tight wire but most will perform that trick only on larger wires and cables. This method often works because the four parts water-to-one part sugar nectar in the hummingbird feeder is not as tasty to squirrels as the sunflower seeds used for other birds, so squirrels do not seem quite so determined to get at it.
Ants have no trouble walking down a steel wire or chain hanging from an eave or porch post bracket. To discourage them, place a blob of petroleum jelly on the wire midway between the tree and the feeder on both sides of the feeder. If the ants are successful getting past one blob of Vaseline, place another blob about three inches away from the first.
This trick will also discourage the praying mantis (unless, of course the mantis flies to the feeder.) The mantis will not drink the nectar, but can ambush the tiny birds at the feeder and make a meal of a hummingbird. If hummingbird feeders are in the shade, the wire will not get hot enough to melt the petroleum jelly. If melting is a problem, just add new blobs each time you refill the feeder, which should be cleaned and refreshed weekly anyway.
Birding specialty stores sell another option, a specially made cup that can be filled with water. The cup is fitted with hooks above and below which can be placed between a hummingbird feeder and its support. It is effective in blocking ants.
If hummingbird feeders are placed in the shade among large trees spaced apart without thick vegetation around them they will be used by colorful Baltimore orioles, too. Whether you consider that a problem or a bonus is up to you.
Jerry Butler is a regular contributor to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette on topics related to birds in Arkansas.
HomeStyle, Pages 31 on 12/29/2012