I’m researching the possibility of putting up a suet feeder but people say European Starlings love the suet, too. I have LOTS of Starlings in my area, entire trees full in winter. I do NOT want to feed them.
I think I know how to ward off House Sparrows and Eastern Grey Squirrels, all of which live here, too. But I need input regarding the Starlings, if anyone knows any tried and proven tricks. If not, I might just forgo the suet feeder.
The only approach I know of is to have the feeder inside mesh that starlings can’t get through or destroy. That said, they are cavity nesters, and can get through surprisingly small spaces, and are really talented at destruction. This company: https://birdbarrier.com/stealthnet-bird-netting/
says that their 1.125 inch (2.86 cm) netting keeps out starlings.
Of course if you were hoping to feed any other birds that can’t fit through that size mesh, this might defeat the purpose.
Thanks for this! I can probably get the netting from a local hardware store and make the cage around the feeder. But I’m no good with bird sizes. Here are some suet-eating birds I’d like to attract:
Those are birds I have seen in my backyard that also appear on Cornell’s Feeder List filtered for Northeast, Suet, Feeder.
Can those birds get through that size netting?
P.S. Now I’m looking at your link. Is that netting flexible? The netting I’m thinking of getting at the local hardware store would be inflexible chicken netting. I’m asking because I think this could be important, i.e. for all I know birds might be able to crawl through a small hole that is flexible but have a problem if the opening is solid.
I think only the smallest woodpeckers (Downy) and nuthatches, wrens and chickadees would get through the mesh, Anything that would keep starlings out would also keep out Hairy, Red-bellied, and Pileated woodpeckers, and Flickers.
They make “upside down” suet feeders - the suet is on the underside - that nuthatches and woodpeckers can cling to, but most other birds can’t. I have one. It took the woodpeckers a long time to find it, and they usually prefer the regular feeder, if I have them both out.
I only saw a starling on it once, and he didn’t seem to report back to all his friends that it was a good hangout, so they never came. So maybe worth trying.
Of course, the squirrels aren’t deterred by it.
@danly has the right idea. If you hang the feeder upside down, and leave the plastic container it comes in surrounding everything but the bottom, it will keep Starlings out. They don’t like to hang upside down to feed, and the plastic prevents them from getting to the suet on the top and sides.
I wouldn’t get Blue Jays, either, on an upside-down feeder, would I? They are so pretty that I would have liked to attract them but they do make an awful noise.
There are three options to look into:
I’ve done all three of these, find they are effective.
If you want to put something for Blue Jays, I’d try an open tray with Striped Sunflower. Starlings don’t have beaks well suited to cracking heavy seed hulls and usually ignore it. Blue Jays will visit, though they prefer peanuts in the shell, which you could toss on the tray with the sunflower.
I would avoid using flexible mesh around birds. They tend to get tangled in it, which is often fatal. Mesh should be either rigid on its own, or held taut on a frame.
Thank you so much for this information.
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.