Barb,

Glad that's working for you! If it gives fairly consistent results that'll be really useful information for other people.

Lori

Well it's been just over 2 weeks now and still, not a single HOSP at the feeders. I'm a stay at home mom at the moment so I do have the privilege of watching the feeders all day and the only HOSPs that show up have been 2 that stay for short periods to feed on the ground. The only seeds that are on the ground are the thistle and the HOSPs don't really care for it once they've picked it up.

I'm so happy that they are staying away. Now we just have to see how desperate they will get when the temperatures dip into the -10's and -20's.

Barb
southern Ontario, CANADA

What is a HOSP?
thanks!

Cutesy acronyms drive me crazy too. I am guessing HOSP is house sparrow, but that is only a guess. Maybe Barb can enlighten us.

Ya it's HouseSparrow. I never heard of it either but it seems that it's a commonplace acronym here on gardenweb. Sorry if it confused anyone.

Barb

Barb, I could be so lucky. I always fed black oil sunflower seed, niger, and peanuts, yet I was inundated with HOSP. Good for you though if it works!

Terry

I'd like to know how to get rid of grackles! These birds drive me nuts with their loud cries. I've lived here 8 years in my house, and only this year did they decide to take up residence in my big Japanese black pine out front. They scare the little birds away. Any suggestions, Barb? Do these birds annoy anyone else?

I can handle the HOSPs. They only seem to reside in my honeysuckle tree during winter, and they don't scare off the other birds like the grackles do. Ugh! They're driving me nuts!

Sorry to hijack the thread.

Susan

BTW, I don't want to kill the birds, just discourage them from using my trees. If I have to live with them, we'll get around it somehow.

Susan

Sue, I would go with the types of feeders that the grackles won't like so much. You know, the kind the birds have to hang off of, hang upside down from, or crawl into small places to get their treat. The nuthatches and chickadees love those round globe feeders with the holes in the sides. They are about the only birds that will feed from them on a regular basis because the bird's body has to be a certain length to be able to perch on the edge of the hole and still get the head and body forward 'though' the hole. House Finches and Gold Finches will give it a go too but they are just a titch too long in the body to do it comfortably. Grackles would in NO WAY be able to perch or feed from these feeders. They are sold by the company called Yule-Hyde and this is what they look like:
{{gwi:1350278}}

Other feeders that feed birds in ways that grackles may not like are the feeders that exclude the larger birds but allow the little winter birds to feed safely:

For your finch feeder and suet feeder choose a variety that feeds the birds upside down to exclude the grackles:

One more thing that might help is a "dome" to go over your feeders. Most of the larger birds don't like to have to go "underneath" something to get to their food and most domes you can buy today are adjustable so that if you lower it too far, you can raise it up and if that's too far you can put it down a notch so the distance between the feeder and dome are just right to let in the species you want and keep out the undesirable species. Here's a recent thread on the domes:
http://nature.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bird/msg111749196145.html?8

After moving to my new house with a woodland backyard I also learned quickly that metal feeders are the only way to go. They cost a bit more but the squirrels can't ruin them. An all metal feeder that might work great against grackles is the "No No Feeder". It's all metal with wire mesh sides and depending on which version you buy, the perch is either wider or narrower. These come in a variety of colours like bright red, forest green, copper, galvanized steel etc... and fold completely flat for off season storage. Here's an example:

Once you keep your grackles off the feeders they may be content to nip away at stuff on the ground or just move on to better pastures.

It's been 3 weeks now and still not a single House Sparrow on our feeders. Not only have their been no house sparrows but there's been no sightings of grackles or starlings which are a SUPREME NUISSANCE at our feeders normally. They usually perch, dip their beaks in the seed and sift back and forth until the entire feeders are emptied and spilled to the ground. So far this year there's been NONE. I'm SOOOOOOO pleased and the birds are loving it that they aren't harassed by those nasty HOSPs.

Barb

Hello my friends
best advice to keep sparrows away dont feed milliet seed
feed birds sunflower seeds & suiet. To name a few good seeds.
THE SPARROW population is on the decline in many area's for
reason's not really understood. I Think the number of Bluebird
fans has in part helped in there decline and must we forget
Martin landlords i dont think we will ever be rid of Mr Bull
sparrow. but there not as common anymore.
Grackles are protected species and cannot be harmed in any way. Just have to deal with them and enjoy there colony
Ray.

Ray, are the HOSPs really on the decline? Here in southern Ontario they are an absolute MENACE. no sign at all of their decline but if I had it in my heart to euthanize them, I would trap them and do so. For their sake, I don't have the heart to do it so I keep them at bay by as you say, "only using selective foods". I only use black oil sunflower, suet and shell-peanuts. All wild birds have survived for thousands of years on their own so I'm not concerned that any of the birds that will not, or aren't able, to feed from my feeders will succumb to starvation, not even the grackles. The English House Sparrows will also find their own food source and that's fine by me. If they ARE INDEED in decline, then that is good too.

Barb
southern Ontario, CANADA

Thanks for the info, Barb. I haven't put up my bird feeders for winter yet, but now I know what to get, I may be heading to HD to check them out.

I only use black oil sunflower seeds in most of my feeders. But, the sparrows will eat them anyway. I have noticed a decline in the sparrow population, though. I wonder if the grackles have anything to do with this?

This will be my first attempt at feeding finches and other small birds - I don't even know if any frequent my area or not. I see mostly the larger birds like the Cardinals, house wrens, woodpeckers, etc. Do woodpeckers use feeders?

I used suet one year and just put it in those black wire contraptions. But not a bird one wanted any of it.

Barb, what birds consume shell peanuts? I thought mainly squirrels like those.

Susan

Susan, using peanuts not in the shell (I can never keep it straight how you refer to those!) will draw in woodpeckers. They also like suet feeders.

Not only did I have a problem with grackles, but HOSP. The grackles only were there periodically and the only way to be rid of them, or get them to move on, was to bring in my feeders for roughly 3 weeks. It doesn't sound like feeders are what is attracting them though. They might just move on, on their own.

Barb, good for you for getting rid of the HOSP without having to trap them. I can look out my window and see hundreds over in the park that's behind and caddy corner from me. They love the arborvitae over there. I put up a suet feeder because I know that the HOSP won't go to one, but no one is going to it. Good thing it's cold and the thing will last a loooong time!

Terry

I find the Woodpeckers tend to gravitate mostly to the various kinds of suet though I have seen them pecking at the peanuts (ours do have shells on them).

Our peanut feeder is for the peanuts with the shells still on and the birds that like to take them are the Cardinals and especially the jays. The jays take them and squeeze them into the crotches of the tree/branches and most times forget about them and they become squirrel food. The squirrels have to get the peanuts this way because we have a squirrel baffle on our feeder pole and the squirrels can't get to the peanut feeder that way.

Well, our temps have dipped quite cold the past 2 nights so we will see if those darn'd HOSPs stay away or if they get so desperate they go for the seeds they don't tend to like. I'm sure that enough neighbors use mixed seed with millet that they will just stay away.

Barb

It's been 42 days and still not a single house sparrow on the feeders so I'm going to go with the notion that keeping mixed seed out of the feeders really DOES work.

HOWEVER, and I didn't think of this, but my second least fave bird found my feeders and the group was making quick work of all my suet! DARN'd EUROPEAN STARLINGS!!! Grrrr! I can't stand them as much as I can't stand HOSPs! So every time they gathered on the suet, I'd let our big dog outside to scare them off. I did this for 2 days and it seems they've decided to move on (for now at least). Boy these alien birds are annoying.

On a nicer note, I saw my first Nuthatch of the season, so I was happy about that :o) and now that the starlings have moved on, the woodpeckers are back at the suet again.

Barb
(green as green southern Ontario, CANADA)

Barb
I'm glad it is working for you!

>>I'm so happy that they are staying away. Now we just have to see how desperate they will get when the temperatures dip into the -10's and -20's.

They will just go to the neighbour.....have done the same thing years ago, now I have only feeders what swing on lines, also upside down feeders,... no more hosps.

Konrad

Just skimming this thread and don't know if anyone mentioned that fishing line will keep HOSPs away. I have seen it used on outside eating areas at restaurants to discourage them from congregating. Another thing many people swear by is a Magic Halo. You can google that up. You can use it on feeders or even on livestock feeders to keep HOSPs away from grain that you are feeding to livestock.

Also, the cutesy acronyms are really not that at all. They are alpha codes used by ornithologists and bird banders. The HOSP code is probably one of the most commonly used. Another that you will commonly see here is EUST (European starling) and TRES (tree swallow). I am including a link to a page that gives some history of how the codes originated as well as links to the complete lists in case you ever need them again.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alpha codes for bird species