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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. Hi Jane,
    I tried the suggestion about removing the perch from the HB feeders but even that doesn’t keep other birds, especially Mexican finches, from helping themselves to the nectar. In the Phoenix heat, I hate to remove this source of food from my hummers.

  2. I’ve had problems with several birds over the years, including a hawk that nearly knocked me off a 6′ ladder (cleaning out the gutters) while it was chasing a robin. Top of my head looked like a tick-tac-toe game. Both the birds and I survived but it scared the beejeesus out of me. When it comes to keeping the hummer feeder safe from the woodies (we have 4 here in SE MO but the Pilated don’t bother the feeders) the other 3 are all over a stock feeder. For the last several years I’ve been putting packing tape on them, sticky side out, to keep them off fhe feeders, which they can drain in a day. They spill more than they drink and bee guards do NOT stop them as their tongues are around 10cm/4″ long. I will look around for one of the perchless feeders. A bit of packing or scotch tape around the seem will stop the other birds. The solution to having one hummer (usually a male) staking a claim to a feeder is to put two close together but out of sight of each other (mine are at the corner of my house by the breakfast nook). Many times I’ve seen a male claim one of the feeders so the girls just go to the other one. He may try to claim both but he can only guard one at a time. I put sunflower seeds & peanuts out where all the birds except the hummer visit, so the next problem is squirrels. The squirrels can completely wipe out what I put out in 10 -15 minutes. I kinda like the squirrels but get tired of feeding them (the more you put out, the larger numbers of squirrels show up! I’ve had as many as 8 on my deck at once!) and definitely don’t like that they poop & pee constantly. I’ve resorted to shooting them in the butt with a very low powered BB gun but it only works for a while, then they’re back. The only ones I ignore are the pregnant or nursing moms but over the last couple of years, I’ve nailed every squirrel in the county (it seems) at least once but still they come back. It’s an endless battle! And I am definitely NOT winning!

  3. Amazon.com has a large variety of feeders and food.

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