SoutheasternOhioPreps.com

I THOUGHT THE EUROPEAN STARLINGS WERE ANNOYING. AND I LIKE TO FEED ALL BIRDS. BUT THE BROWN HEADED COWBIRDS HAVE TAKEN OVER OUT HERE. RUNNING OFF HUNDREDS OF MY SONGBIRDS. THEY CHASE HUMMERS, FINCHES,ETC. MY BIRDBOOK SAYS THAT THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR RUNNING OUT NEARLY HALF OF THE SONGBIRDS FROM PREVIOUSLY BUSY BIRDING YARDS. I'D REALLY LIKE TO GET RID OF THEM, ANYBODY HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS. THE SONGBIRDS STILL COME. BUT WHEN THE COWBIRDS ARE AWAY. AND THANKS IN ADVANCE.

If you have feeders, you may try to find which food the cowbirds are eating and remove it, or get feed for only the birds you want around. It may not eliminate the cowbirds completely, but it may slow them down until they find an area that has what they are looking for.

Also..if you have birdhouses and or nests, make sure they have not taken them over. That is one thing they are known to do as well. Get rid of any cowbird eggs that you find.

A #6 turkey load in 12 gauge will do the trick

get these and your problem is solved

Tell all of the kids in the neighborhood that own BB guns that you have a bounty on the birds.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wi ... /cowbirds/
http://faculty.ncwc.edu/mbrooks/pif/Fac ... wbirds.htm
Two things I found [but you probably already "searched" and found them also]. Neither very helpful in the way of suggestions for getting rid of them other than "search out their eggs and destroy them". Tough to do.

I vote for the cats. The brown-headed ones must be even slower than the yellow-headed cowbirds.

But won't cats go after songbirds, too? Can you train a cat to target only specific species of birds and leave all the others alone?

caglewis wrote:But won't cats go after songbirds, too? Can you train a cat to target only specific species of birds and leave all the others alone?

they want them all they aren't picky a bird is a bird with the exception of woodpeckers the dog won't even bug them.. I have a woodpecker that doesn't know what bark bark and my screaming at him means

I'VE TRIED SEVERAL THINGS. I DON'T THINK ANY ARE NESTING HERE MOST OF MY HOUSES DON'T HAVE BIGGER THAN 1 1/2 INCH OPENINGS. ACCORDING ON WHATS NESTING WHERE. THEY FLY FAR AWAY AFTER EATING, THE LORD HAS BLESSED ME WITH THOUSANDS OF BEAUTIFUL BIRDS, SO I DON'T THINK I COULD SHOOT THEM. I HAD HAD HORSE OATS IN MY LAST MIX, BUT USED THE LAST OF IT, AND THEY LIKE GRAIN. ------- BUT HONESTLY THEY WILL EAT ANYTHING NOT NAILED DOWN. BUT THEY ARE VERY ANNOYING. THANKS FOR ALL THE IDEAS. EVERYBODY.