Feeding the Birds...

[beachmel]

Harry,
Actually, the pigeon problem was solved a for over a year, thanks to a particular tenacious neighbor who is a business owner and one of those with property neighboring the trailer park. You see, a couple of years ago, the pigeon numbers coming to the trailer park had increased to, oh gosh, at least 80. The Department of Fish and Game was called in and furnished traps, as well as notifying the woman in the trailer park that she was creating a nuisance. They (not the feeder), "removed" the pigeons in the neighborhood. We now have between 20 and 30 back around here on a daily basis. This woman has been warned by the authorities about this but continues to do what she wants. She lies to them and tells them she only has the bird feeders....it's not HER problem that the crows and pigeons show up! As for the crows, there have to be at LEAST 50 of them at one time.

Now here's the weird part..... You asked if the pigeons and crows use the water feature in my front yard. No, I have never seen one of the pigeons in our front yard. I occasionally see a crow come into it, but not the pigeons. My pond is located in an isolated part of the yard. I have, over the period of 20 years, manicured the trees so that nearly the whole front is covered in a canopy that you walk under. Only a small part of the pond is actually revealed from above. Mind you, this part of the yard is not huge, only about 25'x40'. Visits from a couple of cranes, years ago, prompted my actions as far as the pond goes, because we were losing fish like crazy. We no longer stock fish in there, due to racoons, but keep it running and filled for the wild birds. Unbelievably, we still have bluejays visiting the pond, something that used to only happen in the winter months.

Again, Harry, we are very kind and considerate neighbors...or try to be. The woman who is causing me and my immediate neighbors the most trouble is not the kind of person you can have a good relationship with. For about 10 years, I helped her out.....thinking that she was miserable and mean because people just weren't nice to her. I got her started on landscaping, even furnished her multitudes of her plants, tutored her through college because she "couldn't do it without my help". Drove her to do her shopping (lost her license for the 4th time "DUIs"), drove her to doctor's appointments, helped her remodel her trailer, paint it, build storage, etc. All the while, cringing each time. You couldn't be around her without her constantly complaining about everyone around here, making herself sound like a victim, while listening to her talk about mean, retaliatory things she was doing to people....or just things she liked to do to tick people off. I made excuses for her for years, but simply had to totally distance myself from her finally, because I couldn't bear her meanness. I was a good "Christian" woman, who was simply hoping to show her by example that meanness just isn't the way to go. Harry, she is just awful. She is the kind of person who simply believes that the world revolves around her and she doesn't have to follow any of the rules that others are expected to follow. She collects disability because she claims she is unfit to work. I was around helping her when she made the decision to start collecting disability. There were two elderly gentlemen in the trailer park who were on disability and she set about finding out how to do it herself. Her words were, "I'm going to go for disability! If those drunks can claim disability and don't have to work for a living, I'm damn sure not going to have to work for a living either." So, she proceeded to study on how to work the system and get it. This woman is NOT disabled. Anyone who sees her packing around her huge pots of plants, sacks of potting soil, etc. all day long, can see that. Sigh....

Well, I think I'll head to the front yard....it sounds like I've got a whole bunch of little "tweeters and chirpers" causing a commotion....I want to go see what they're up to. Have a wonderful day.

[H. Morris]

Beachmel,
The fact that the pigeons and crows don't use your pond for bathing is good. I wouldn't have expected them to, but good to know they don't. That helps and lets us focus on just your neighbor's yard. I'm going to prescribe a course of action that may work over a period of 4 or 5 weeks. It is making a "natural" transition from feeding pigeons and crows to feeding Song Birds and possibly Hummingbirds.

Step One - Convince your neighbor that it is better and more enjoyable to invite Song Birds and Hummingbirds into the yard than to invite pigeons and crows.

Step Two - Buy some Suet cakes along with the accessories to mount it, and possibly buy a hummingbird feeder and give it to your neighbor if she's willing to make the transition. These are usually available at your favorite grocery store. If not, there are many suppliers of bird seed on the internet.

Step Three - Stop putting out any food for any birds for a couple weeks. Observe the results. There should be no birds after a couple weeks.

Step Four - Put out the Suet cakes and hummingbird feeder and observe for a couple weeks. Song Birds should start showing up gradually at first, then increase as time goes by.

Now, you are on your way to making a full transition. Later, other food types can be introduced to add to the invited guest list, and hopefully, you'll have no more problems with pigeons and crows.

Keep in mind that this is the time of year when many desirable bird species begin to leave the area, depending on where you live, and won't come back until the Spring season.

I know this is a huge challenge for you, but I hope these suggestions will help in some way, and I wish you great success.

Cheers,
Harry "Gipper" Morris

[beachmel]

Harry,
I truly appreciate your suggestions and will implement them in my own yard. However, as for my neighbor goes, truly, she is the kind of person who would go absolutely ballistic at the very mention of her changing her ways. I'm telling you, she is a severe Vicoden addict who has gotten more and more hateful....to the point of purposefully harrassing those around her for the simple matter of being in "control". I'm sorry to sound so darn pessimistic about this person, but after so many years of trying and so many years of watching her get worse by the day...I don't have the strength to try any more. One of the women that this gal is constantly harrassing (the business owner next door) is 83 years old and in poor health... the battle never ends. The "feeder" is the type of person who will instigate a fight with her cruel verbal abuse, then call the police when her attackee stands up to her with their own comments. She makes people crazy. Honestly, I'm so saturated with her that I simply can't trust myself to confront her without getting hostile. There's just simply no dealing with someone as irrational as she is. Thanks for the tips though.... I will certainly use them on my own home front. Be blessed and have a great day.

[Icy Tea]

We have mourning doves that sit on the feeder and eat the safflower seeds. Is that unusual? They've been doing it for the past few years. We went to safflower seeds because squirrels don't eat them and cardinals do. Timice and Junkos eat them also as well as sunflower seeds.
Cracked corn seems to be the food of choice for bluejays. If sparrows go after the mixed seed I guess I'll stop putting it out. I don't like them either.

[H. Morris]

Hi Ice Tea,
Just information for you and other readers of this forum, I have been successful with four dove species in my yard. I use White Millet, Milo, and Black Oil Sunflower seed. Morning Doves and Ground Doves prefer the Millet, White Winged Doves prefer the Milo as does the Eurasian Collared Doves. The Collared Doves prefer the BOS over Milo but will occassionaly eat Millet.
I lay out two or three piles of each seed about 18 inches apart, on the ground or patio and a table. Seems to reduce the amount of "aggression/defense" on the part of each species. I put out about 1/2 cup of each seed type about four times daily. All is gone by the end of the day.
Cheers,
Harry "Gipper" Morris