Taking the Nuisance Out of “Nuisance” Birds

So, just who are these “nuisance” birds? Well, in its most basic definition, it’s any group of birds that congregate at your feeders to such a level that they prevent your favorite birds from using your feeders, while also making short-work out of your valuable bird food.

The key is to favor your favorite birds and discourage the others by your choice of foods and feeders.

To learn more about these, and other critter solutions, be sure to visit our Certified Bird Feeding Specialists® at your favorite Wild Birds Unlimited store for the expert advice you need to take back your feeders.

The Right Food

We offer a variety of foods to help you deal with nuisance birds at your feeders.

• Feed the larger, harder-shelled striped sunflower seed. These are difficult for sparrows and starlings to open. 
• Instead of sunflower seed, offer only safflower seed. Blackbirds and starlings do not seem to like how hard and oddly shaped this seed is and usually leave it alone. Cardinals on the other hand love safflower and will still come to your yard. 
• Offer high quality blends in tube feeders and consider removing the feeder's perches. Small birds can land on the seed ports just fine, while larger birds can hang on to the port for only a short time and thus eat less food. Or consider putting your tube feeder into a cage with smaller openings for the smaller songbirds- your larger birds won't seem to be able to get into them. 
• Offer only pure rendered suet cakes, or Simply Suet, as European Starlings often ignore them. Starlings are attracted to the other ingredients (like peanuts) in suet-blend cakes more than just plain suet.
• Don't offer foods containing cracked corn and millet these are favorites of House Sparrows, European Starlings, Rock Pigeons, grackles and blackbirds.

Feeder Solutions

Deter larger birds from visiting your existing feeder by adding an On-Guard™ wire mesh cage. Our On-Guard solutions are designed to allow smaller birds access but prevent doves, pigeons, even blackbirds from reaching the food in a feeder. We offer a variety of cages that easily fit on our seed tube, finch, peanut, suet and some of our specialty feeders.

Solution Feeders

We offer a variety of feeders that help you feed only the birds you want.

• EcoTough® Upside-down Suet Feeder - This feeder is designed to allow birds to feed from below, a comfortable practice for woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees and other clinging birds but difficult for starlings. You can also turn any suet feeder into an upside down starling stumper- stop by the store and see what we have to help you. 
• The Eliminator™ and Fundamentals Squirrel-proof feeders. Both of these feeders are weight-sensitive and will close off access to the food when heavier visitors, such as pigeons and most doves, sit on a perch. 
• Gilbertson Bluebird Feeder. This feeder helps restrict starlings from eating mealworms or specialized foods you put out for insect eaters like bluebirds and wrens.
  Suet Log Cylinder Feeder. This feeder is disguised to look like tree bark. With no perches it is hard for starlings and blackbirds to dominate this feeder for long periods of time, but is a favorite for woodpeckers and nuthatches.