Following Up (On a 8-2-13 Blogger Post)

LONG BEACH NEW YORK

LONG BEACH NEW YORK

ROBERT MOSES BEACH NEW YORK

ROBERT MOSES BEACH NEW YORK

The last time that I posted here on Blogger I mentioned that it was my fascination with the array of wild birds which visit my rooftop garden, that prompted me to be more observant than I had been in bygone years of the seagulls that I saw when I visited a couple of beaches last week with my sister. (A few photo-ops of these seagulls can be seen atop this entry.)

I am home now, and at the moment my "fascination with the array of wild birds which visit my garden," has turned into a mission: a mission as to what I can do to deter mourning doves and pigeons from interfering with my bird-feeders!

I understand these birds need to eat too, and I am happy to provide nourishment for them, but no matter what I do, the mourning doves as well as pigeons gravitate towards the feeders which are not intended for them!
For example, my orange feeders are specifically designed for smaller song birds   as I've stated in a number of TLLG's cyber-venues, including a post on hometalk. 

These are feeders that have been accessed by an array of small song birds, including house finches, who can be seen interacting with it in the images posted below.

Soon after the house finches made it clear they were enjoying the feeder, the mourning doves began to observe — rather leer at — them to learn how to use the feeder as seen in the image below, which you might recognize from a previous post.

  
And even though the feeder was too small for the mourning doves to land on or perch from, they were not deterred and found a way to tip the feeder (as seen in the image below),

so that seeds would spill to the ground, a place they enjoy eating from!

The mourning doves' habit of tipping a feeder was something I first noticed shortly after I procured my CB feeder and discussed in a number of TLLG's on-line venues, including a post on here Blogger which you may refer to by clicking this link.

I caught my mourning dove during the scene of the crime — in the act of pouncing on the CB feeder — as seen in the image below.

The consequence of my mourning dove pouncing on the CB feeder when it was in this locale, was that the seeds fell onto the foliage of my kiwi vines as you might surmise from the second image in the series posted directly above.

Then the mourning doves would eat the spilled seeds from atop the kiwi vines' leaves, which left gaping holes in the vines' hard earned foliage, a fact that I discussed in the aforementioned Blogger post.

If, dear reader, you are familiar with TLLG's cyber-venues, then you may recall that I had procured the CB feeder to accommodate Cam and Mac (my cardinal couple) as well as the small song birds which visit my garden, including house finches  who immediately availed themselves of the seed from the feeder as seen in the images below.

But, as you can see the mourning doves watched their every move as if to devise a way to gain access to the seeds!

The mourning doves even appeared to study the feeder —in the same way folks read an instruction manual — to understand how it functioned. Their "strategy" can be seen in the photos posted below.

And as you may know, in order to save my kiwi vines' foliage, I had to move the CB feeder from where I had hung it and secure it from a broomstick that was staked in my vines' container (as seen below).

Having this as a set-up meant that spilled seed would land on my garden's floor and not my kiwi vines' foliage! And as you can see (in the image above) the house finches adjusted quickly to the new locale. But it wasn't long before the mourning doves attempted to spill the seeds by landing on the feeder (however they would pause for a photo-op as seen below)!

Unfortunately the one who did not avail herself of the perch on this feeder even though it was designed for her bird-type was Cam. She would only eat from the CB feeder if it was placed on a ledge as seen below.

This image of Cam has been featured on TLLG's Facebook Page and ones similar to it were included in the post on Blogger that I have been referring to in this entry.

I am always happy to accommodate Cam because I adore her but I could not keep the feeder in this locale as it was discovered by a pigeon (seen below),

who ultimately could not keep a secret and told his/her friend about my bistro for birds. They can be seen in my garden (in the picture below).

As you can see, they are whispering to each other in my garden, and, moreover, since the time this image was taken, another pigeon has visited! Therefore it seems the word is out to the pigeon community that food is available in my garden!

In TLLG's cyber-venues, I have expressed my concern that the presence of pigeons will be a deterrent to my favorite guests, Cam and Mac as well the smaller songbirds! Even though I saw Cam with Mac in my garden when a pigeon was there (as seen below),

the "occasion" took place four weeks ago and I've seen very little of Cam or Mac since that time! Hence, my new concern (in addition to securing feeders so that they can't be tipped) is that the presence of pigeons is preventing the happy couple from visiting me!

For it seems that mourning doves are not the only type of bird which learn to alight upon a feeder (intended for the perching of cardinals and smaller song birds) to topple it! Pigeons are now doing the same thing as evidenced in te images below!

Now, in an effort to deter the larger birds from jostling feeders by landing on them, Juan V, when he was here the other day put a small row of copper wire above the feeder so the larger birds could not land on them. This can be seen in the images below.

The first image in the series directly above shows the feeder placement as of Juan V's last visit here, the second image describes three things: the circle at the top indicates Juan V's wire-installation-deterrent, the second circle indicates house finches eating freely without mourning doves leering at them and toppling the feeder!

But the third circle indicates that this will not be a solution for a pigeon is making him/herself cozy on the recovered leaves of my kiwi vine's foliage and destroying them again due to the seeds being eaten which the finches are dropping! You can also see this occurring in the images posted below.

Once again, to save my kiwi vines' foliage from being ruined, I've removed the feeder from this locale and will be installing a pole system within ten days time.  I am hopeful that this will resolve some of the issues I've discussed, and I hope, dear reader, that if you ever encounter these concerns with feeding birds in your garden, that you will find how I've dealt with them to be of benefit to you!