Jackdaws at the bird feeder...

oscarBravo

...and even bloody rooks.

I have a stand with three feeders on it: seeds, peanuts and fatballs. I was getting lots of tits, finches, sparrows, the usual pretty little things - then the jackdaws and rooks invaded.

They started off by standing on the wee water dish and pecking at the fatballs, so I rearranged it so they couldn't, but now the jackdaws have figured out how to emulate the finches, clinging directly to the wire mesh of the peanut and fatball feeders and pecking away. I've even caught a rook hanging off the fatball feeder - see the attached photo.

I don't necessarily begrudge rooks and jackdaws a nibble, but they're scaring the smaller birds away. Any ideas on how to get rid of them?

gerky

Its hard to beat the crow family for their intelligence and problem solving skills.
One thing that might be worth a try is putting a table somewhere else in the garden and put food scraps on it, they might decide to take the easy meal and leave the other alone.
I have mags rooks and jackdaw that eat of the feeders here but the other birds still eat they just kinda take it in turns although I regularly see them all eating together.

amerden

Just accept it and enjoy the aerobatics, spent a year trying to keep Rooks & Jackdaws from feeding from my bird table & feeders, tried all kinds of gadgets, but they always found a way around them, you do have to admire their persistence. Now they all feed together as gerky said.

oscarBravo

I don't mind so much that they eat - it's just that they eat so bloody much!

gerky

I forgot to respond back to this again sorry.
I thought about it and you can get squirrel proof feeders which basically have an outer cage so squirrels can't get in, and they might leave it that only the smaller birds could get in and the crows would be too big.

PogMoThoin

gerky wrote: »

I forgot to respond back to this again sorry.
I thought about it and you can get squirrel proof feeders which basically have an outer cage so squirrels can't get in, and they might leave it that only the smaller birds could get in and the crows would be too big.

Yes, my Dad has something similar, a bigger mesh outside that keeps the rooks and crows out, but that the smaller birds can pass through. Check your local garden centre.

On another note, I saw a documentary once about the adaptability of the rook. The rooks discovered somehow that early morning delivered milk bottles contained something nice and started bursting them, but they could only drink as far as their beaks could reach. It wasn't long before the rooks started dropping pebbles into the bottles to raise the level of the milk. Ingenious

gerky

Yea The crow family are bizarrely intelligent, In different area's they've been seen breaking twigs and thorns of branches and using them to get insects and maggots out of dead wood.
And its thought theirs brains may be advanced enough to have a sense of humour as they've been studied playing tricks on each other.

Belfast

oscarBravo wrote: »

...and even bloody rooks.

I have a stand with three feeders on it: seeds, peanuts and fatballs. I was getting lots of tits, finches, sparrows, the usual pretty little things - then the jackdaws and rooks invaded.

They started off by standing on the wee water dish and pecking at the fatballs, so I rearranged it so they couldn't, but now the jackdaws have figured out how to emulate the finches, clinging directly to the wire mesh of the peanut and fatball feeders and pecking away. I've even caught a rook hanging off the fatball feeder - see the attached photo.

I don't necessarily begrudge rooks and jackdaws a nibble, but they're scaring the smaller birds away. Any ideas on how to get rid of them?

CRPF-43 Crow/Magpie/ Squirrel Proof Feeder


http://www.dunneanddineen.ie/wildlife.htm

Rainbowsend

I just put bread and scraps out away from the feeders and the rooks/jackdaws are
more interested in that than the feeders, and they seem to go away when its all gone!

Belfast

Rainbowsend wrote: »

I just put bread and scraps out away from the feeders and the rooks/jackdaws are
more interested in that than the feeders, and they seem to go away when its all gone!

Does that attract rats ?

Rainbowsend

Haha! No its not there long enough!

E39MSport

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Yes, my Dad has something similar, a bigger mesh outside that keeps the rooks and crows out, but that the smaller birds can pass through. Check your local garden centre.

On another note, I saw a documentary once about the adaptability of the rook. The rooks discovered somehow that early morning delivered milk bottles contained something nice and started bursting them, but they could only drink as far as their beaks could reach. It wasn't long before the rooks started dropping pebbles into the bottles to raise the level of the milk. Ingenious

Ah, memories. House Sparrows used to pierce the foil lids on the milk bottles outside my grandfathers front door every morning.

Mr. Presentable

gerky wrote: »

Yea The crow family are bizarrely intelligent, In different area's they've been seen breaking twigs and thorns of branches and using them to get insects and maggots out of dead wood.
And its thought theirs brains may be advanced enough to have a sense of humour as they've been studied playing tricks on each other.

You may have seen this before, but if not, gaze in wonder at the intelligence of these birds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPGknpq3e0

oscarBravo

Also this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1187429/Rook-hook-bird-brain-Britain.html

On the original topic, I got some peanut and seed feeders with squirrel cages, and they work perfectly.

gerky

nipplenuts wrote: »

You may have seen this before, but if not, gaze in wonder at the intelligence of these birds

I had seen it before but it was well worth watching again.