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How to Keep Unwanted Birds Away from Hummingbird Feeders

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Photograph by Chris Selvig via Flickr

The past few weeks, we’ve been writing about keeping your hummingbird feeders free from pesky ants and flying insects. One of our readers brought up another threat to hummingbird feeders, other birds.

Orioles are known for raiding hummingbird feeders, but they’re not the only ones. Woodpeckers, House Finches and other species tend to invade hummingbird feeders for a chance to drink the sweet nectar. And when these bigger birds eat the nectar, they usually scare away the hummingbirds, which defeats the whole purpose.

So here’s what you can do to protect your hummers from unwanted birds.

Get an oriole feeder, suet feeder and/or seed feeder

One of the best solutions is to simply get more feeders. If you mind having orioles coming to your hummingbird feeders, you can buy feeders especially for them. Oriole feeders are essentially the same as hummingbird feeders, but they can accommodate fruits and jelly as well as nectar. For woodpeckers, you can also put up suet feeders for them to get nutrition. You can do the same thing with other feeders, depending on the species hanging around your hummingbird feeders. Remember to make sure they’re always full, so the birds don’t have to turn to your other feeders for food.

Get a feeder with a bottle that hangs over the feeding area

Small, perchless feeders essentially keep out every bird except hummers because most birds need to perch while eating. A feeder like the Ruby Antique Bottle feeder is a beautiful addition to any yard and the slope of the bottle over the feeder keeps larger bird from landing. A larger bird like the woodpecker wouldn’t be able to mob the small feeder. You can also trim down the perches on your existing feeders.

Buy or make a bird baffle

Even if the feeder itself doesn’t have a perch, sometimes birds are able to perch on top of the feeder or grab onto the wire that holds it up. You can put a standard baffle or create your own makeshift one out of an old CD.

Separate the feeders

If you have separate feeders for orioles and woodpeckers, but they’re still going to the hummingbird feeders, try separating them. Putting them farther apart will make it less tempting for an oriole to move over and target the hummingbird feeder.

Please let us know any solutions you found.

Timothy Martinez Jr. is a writer and freelance journalist. His work has been published in The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, Remapping Debate in New York City and other publications. He’s been a bird lover since he was young and currently lives in New Orleans, L.A.

127 Comments

  1. Hummers are disappearing as we’ve seen an increase in woodpeckers. We had to convert to metal flowers on the feeders to prevent more damaged feeders. We increased the number of feeders, with success. Unfortunately this year the woodpeckers have clearly ‘moved in’. Today we’re separating the feeders even more in hopes that helps.

  2. Where did you find your hummingbird feeder at? I’m not having luck finding the type with the narrow slits.

  3. I’ve just spent hours trying to find out WHY, after 20 years in the same spot, a downy woodpecker is suddenly interested in my HB feeder…what the heck?!…I spotted it a couple of days ago. My hubby didn’t believe me, until he finally got a chance to witness for himself. I’ve been driving myself nuts wondering why…I thought the only other type of bird attracted to them would be an oriole…but this was no oriole, THAT I was sure of! I researched the downy ‘pecker’ several years ago, when I spotted one eating from the bottom of my winter season ‘seed’ feeder. And now, I am positive that’s what’s been on the HB feeder this past week. It doesn’t seem to deter the hummers, so far though, just eats a while then leaves. Darndest thing I’ve ever seen. Guess I’ll just put out more juice, more often, as long as they can all get along.

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