Hey, I love all winged creatures that visit my bird feeders but come on, such pigs......

[a kennedy]

Sparrows get on the feeder and just swish all seed onto the ground……I’m filling the one feeder everyday!!! Does everyone else feed daily?? When do one of my favorite birds, the cardinals come around??? Yikes, sparrows are little demons. Am getting a few woodpeckers but really want to see the cardinals…….

[MontanaMama]

1. Are they house sparrows?

Friggin’ flying mice. The drive away native songbirds. I can’t have bird feeders out now because of bears…but I can say that changing up the seed that I offer tgat sparrows don’t like as much brought in some other birds which was so nice.

[a kennedy]

2. Yes, yes, they are frigging flying mice, perfect name for them by the way......

the seed I’m using is very high in sunflower seeds…..no corn and some other seeds. What kind should I rotate with this type?? More corn mixture???

[MontanaMama]

3. It might differ area to area.

Up here in the north country, I found that hulled sunflower seeds brought more chickadees, pine siskins, crowned sparrows etc. I had a few sparrows but they didn’t care much for the hulled seed. The bad part? Hulled sunflower seeds are stupid expensive. I also use millet and sparrows did not seem to like millet.

I read an article that suggested putting cracked corn (which is cheap) in a feeder away from where you put your good feed. Sparrows love cracked corn and will gravitate toward corn every time.

Bottom line is that they’re invasive and quite aggressive to native birds. Every couple months I take down all feeders and they will go away…but they always come back. Jerks.

This is the article: https://birdwatchinghq.com/stop-house-sparrows/

There’s lots of other things to read online when you Google how to get rid of house sparrows. Keep us posted!

[keithbvadu2]

4. They scatter 50 seeds to find the 2 good ones.

[panader0]

5. "such pigs"--I have actual pigs (peccaries) come for the bird seed on the ground.

Javelina are very common here. When times are tough, they'll eat the bird seed.
I was working outside about 30 feet away when one showed up. We eyed each other.
Then we each went back to what we were doing.

[a kennedy]

6. I'm so sorry......pigs are awesome. Seriously, so sorry.

[panader0]

7. Why sorry? I love my javelina and coyotes and birds galore.

How many people are serenaded every morning and evening by coyote gathering?
Beats living in the city.

[Marthe48]

8. Read that Nature programs some birds to strew

so that the seeds have a chance to sprout. I stopped filling most of my feeders spring because there was a die off among song birds possibly linked to the feeders. I have more trouble with squirrels emptying the feeders. I have one hung so that the squirrels can't get to it without a lot of effort.

I mostly put the feed on the ground, almost under the bushes and most of the birds will forage for the seeds, even cardinals. The blue jays don't like ground feeding, but they will if that's the onlt choice.

We got a vintage wooden sparrow trap at a sale years ago, never used it, still have it. House sparrows were considered pests and many towns would pay people to kill them. If you google sparrow traps, they are still sold.