An Unexpected Result
As I mentioned in a previous article about the cool new bird identification software called BirdJam, I found it to be a quick and accurate way to identify birds in the field. It allowed you to greatly reduce your pack weight and reduce the chance of missing an ID because you were fumbling through your guide.
What I didn’t expect was being able to deter nuisance birds from my backyard during the critical nesting season.
What Am I Calling Nuisance Birds?
From the first time I was told to just throw up a platform feeder only to be assailed by grackles, I vowed to pay attention to what was feeding in my backyard. I know this will strike some people as anal retentive and some might even see it as hypocritical but I have NO interest in feeding or supporting the proliferation of species that compete for food or nesting with those that really need our help.
My list includes such birds as cowbirds, house sparrows, grackles and european starlings, among others. The threat these birds pose runs the gamut from discouraging my favorite birds from feeding to physically killing other species’ young. Since I have taken an active part in their displacement my backyard has become a haven for everything I want to attract which has increased my enjoyment of birding ten-fold.
I Found A Surprisingly Powerful Ally
At this time of year I have bluebirds, chickadees, wrens, cardinals, woodpeckers, titmice and goldfinches all looking for places to nest. The last thing I need is a growing flock of nuisance birds trying to take their food or nesting places when they are deciding if they want to nest in or near my backyard.
A week or so ago, I started seeing my yearly cowbird pair. I don’t know how much you know about them but they are notorious for parasitism, or laying their eggs in other birds’ nests and letting them hatch and raise them. That is, until the grow big enough to starve their siblings by taking all the food and, in some cases, killing the host parents. As I have a nesting pair of cardinals which are high on their list of targets, I couldn’t take that chance.
Just for fun, I thought I’d see what reaction they would have to hearing the calls and songs of their species. I connected my Macally Podwave speaker and played the cowbird audio so they could hear it. I almost fell over when the recording got to a certain point and the pair bee-lined away from my yard! Subsequent, testing revealed the same result at approximately the same place in the recording. I have not seen them back since I did this.
Since that day, I have successfully used the BirdJam recordings on house sparrows and starlings with similar results.
A Word Of Caution
It would be irresponsible of me not to mention that you should be very careful with this method. Even the BirdJam site warns about playing any of these recordings for birds you want to attract for the same reasons. You may scare a nesting pair out of your yard. That’s why I’ve only been using this method on nuisance birds.
I would also like to point out that you should not use this method on predatory species because their calls are SURE to frighten MANY species away from your yard.
Finally, I want to say how proud I am to have year-long pairs which include cardinals, wrens, titmice, chickadees and woodpeckers. I fully believe that my approach to backyard birding has played a big part in their success.
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I wasn’t quite clear of this.
Can you use the Birdjam to attract a species to your yard. For example: if you want to attract orioles to your yard can you just play the recording and wait to see if they come or will that scare them away?
Hello Mr. Martin,
BirdJam is a way to identify a bird you hear in your backyard. You can either look up the species you think it is, play its song and see if it matches. Or you can just match it with its picture from the BirdJam product.
If you see a bird in your backyard and would like to see if it will come closer you can play a few seconds of its song to see if it responds. I would not do this for very long segments or repetitions as it could have the opposite effect of scaring them away. Some portion of the recorded songs are from males announcing their territories which is naturally intimidating to other males.
The use I was talking about in the post is where you have a nuisance species like sparrows or grackles that can overrun your feeders and keep the birds you want to feed away. For some of these, a short burst of the recordings will scare them away. I used it successfully on cowbirds and sparrows.
Hope this clears it up.
Jeff
I want to rid my yard of a Cowbird flock. They look at me and laugh when I go outside to chase them away. My regular Finch, Cardinals, etc have left. I have one Finch couple who come in right before the sun goes down but these “d…” Cowbirds bully them away then. I’ve chased them with a high powdered yard garden sprayer to no avail. Until now, I never have wished to kill anything. Guess what I wish to kill now…Cowbirds!
I’ve successfully used my ipod with birdjam sounds to scare off cowbirds. The worst part about cowbirds is they leave their eggs in other birds’ nests to be raised and increase their numbers. And yes, they will keep other birds away.
I would like to add that if the Cowbirds persist, you can use ultrasonic or sonic bird repellers. These can be set to distress calls of the particular species as well as predator sounds. Pretty good reviews over at Amazon. Best of success!
Hi John,
It’s nice to know there are other humane methods to control nuisance birds. Do sonic or ultrasonic repellers work as well on starlings or grackles?
BirdDude,
By “cowbirds,” do you mean Brown Headed Cowbirds? If so, then which bird call did you use to scare off the Brown Headed Cowbirds? Male? Female? General alarm?
I’m currently trying to use some Brown Headed Cowbird male and alarm calls to scare some off, but I’m not sure if it is working. They spent only a little time on my bird feeder before flying off, yet they keep coming back again and again without end.
I’m at my wits end with those darn things and I’m getting ready to go get some caged bird feeders. Unfortunately, I’ve got a booming population of Cardinals and they will suffer if I do.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
eahaddix
eahaddix,
To tell you the truth, the birdjam recording I played that uses the audio from the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs(Eastern Region)has several songs/calls in a row. I don’t know what is making the sound at the point in the track the cowbirds scattered. I do know that both male and female will scatter when they hear it.
It was like flipping a switch each time I played it. I highly recommend picking up the audio CD at least.
Sorry I can’t be more helpful.
Jeff
Thanks Birddude. I wonder if the Cowbirds are why I don’t get gold finches anymore. I sure dislike those cowbirds though.
-Greg
Hi Greg,
I have actively discouraged nuisance birds for years so my backyard has mostly firmly established species. The cowbirds that come by are usually run off by one or the other. Others have commented that as soon as cowbirds arrived in numbers that other birds have gone away. I can’t speak at this. I know my goldfinches are way down this year for an unknown reason. I don’t know if the unseasonably warm winter confused them between the winter and summer flocks. I just don’t know. During May and June I can usually not keep thistle in my two upside-down 8 port feeders. This year, I went for almost two months until I had to replace the 1/3 feeder in each that wasn’t getting eaten. The seed was not molded as I check it every day. I just didn’t feel good about it any more. I’ve replaced it, cleaned the feeder and I still see only about four at one time in my backyard.
If there is any chance the feeder is dirty you should start there because goldfinches ARE finicky that way. They do still come to my chickadee feeder near my back door that has sunflower chips in it.
Jeff
Thanks for the info jeff. I will sterilyze my feeder with this dissinfectant I found out about that is often used with pets, veterinary use, hospitals etc. It is called Virkon-S made by Dupont and kills more germs than bleach. It is safe though and works completely different than harsh chemicals like bleach/ammonia.
Hi Greg,
Thank YOU for the info. I have never heard of the Virkon-S but am always suspicious of anything made by a major chemical company. Is it expensive? Is it safer than bleach and easier to use?
Jeff