dorydog
Just Arrived
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Posts: 5
Location: long island, N Y
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:07 pm Post subject: birds are damaging my lawn |
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a variety of birds are tearing up my backyard lawn, sometimes seed, sometimes grubs,,regardless ... HOW DO I KEEP THEM OFF THE LAWN 
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toni
Mistress of Garden Junque
 Moderator
Joined: 07 Jan 2006
Posts: 4157
Location: North Texas (Map)
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:14 pm Post subject: |
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You could try covering your yard with things that spin or shake in the wind that might scare the birds off. Some people spray so much chemical pesticides on their yards that birds keep away, but I don't recommend that for the health problems they can cause humans. Those huge plastic owls on roof tops or plastic snakes in the grass are supposed to work in some cases.
Think of the birds as a natural pre-emergent weed killer. Plants disperse seeds, the wind carries them where it will and if the birds don't eat them you will have all sorts of weeds and other unwanted plants growing in your lawn. But they peck at the seeds that are on the surface of the ground.
Are you seeing divots (holes) dug in your lawn? If so then it is not necessarily birds. Bluejays will stick acorns in the ground for winter storage much like squirrels do but other birds do not dig. You could have an oppossum, raccoon, squirrels or other rodents who eat grubs feasting on them and doing you a great service in the process. If the grubs are left to their own devices it won't be long until you won't have a lawn at all.
The divots can usually be covered over by using the toe of your shoe to kick the soil/grass back into place.
_________________
"Blossom by blossom the spring begins."
Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909)
"A little Madness in the spring, is wholesome even for the King."
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
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Primsong
Flower of the Shire
Joined: 15 Apr 2006
Posts: 1755
Location: Oregon (Map)
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:11 pm Post subject: |
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I've never seen birds cause real damage to a lawn, but Toni has some good ideas here.
We have big plastic owls, one on each gable of the house, because otherwise we get starlings who peck on our cedar siding and try to get into the vents - maybe to nest in the attic. The owls have done a fine job of keeping them away. The robins/finches/jays etc. go looking for earthworms and such in the lawn but cause no damage. Perhaps you have squirrels/gophers digging around?
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dorydog
Just Arrived
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Posts: 5
Location: long island, N Y
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:29 pm Post subject: i've seen em |
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actually i have observed them, blackbirds, sparrows it what reminds me of gulls, diving on fish in the ocean .. a real " feeding frenzy "... and it's not holes ... but large  clumps of grass torn up .... maybe the owls
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Droopy
Slug Slaughterer
Joined: 11 Aug 2007
Posts: 2711
Location: Western Norway (Map)
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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I learn something new every day. The birds will pluck moss from our lawn, and they make a mess in dry leaves and such, but I've never had them tear up the grass. Good luck with any deterring measure you decide to take.
_________________
The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
-Bertrand Russell
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toni
Mistress of Garden Junque
Moderator
Joined: 07 Jan 2006
Posts: 4157
Location: North Texas (Map)
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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Just a thought here. Has this been happening at other times of the year or just in spring time?
Has your grass started greening-up or is it still the brown of dormancy?
It is spring and if the grass is still brown the birds could be pulling some of it up for nesting material.
I have watched sparrows yank brown blades out of our yard at this time every year, then after the nests are built or birdhouses are filled the grass pulling stops.
_________________
"Blossom by blossom the spring begins."
Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909)
"A little Madness in the spring, is wholesome even for the King."
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
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dorydog
Just Arrived
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Posts: 5
Location: long island, N Y
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:04 pm Post subject: "feeding fenzy" |
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there's no particular time they " feed" and it isn't always a group (6-10)...tho i have noticed when it is a larger group, it's only in 1 or 2 specific spots..and it's thrashing ( like when you see birds in dirt) as well as pecking at ??whatever  .... as i type now ... i look out the window and a few robins some finches and a bluejay are about ...  laughing at me i presume
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weeds n seeds
Just Arrived
Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 26
Location: Casper, Wyoming
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:10 pm Post subject: |
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Considering where you live, the birds just might be after Japanese beetle grubs that live in sod til it's time for them to immerge. A product called "Milky Spore" (which is a powder) can stop that. Isn't harmful to anything, and an application is good for 5 years worth of protection against the critters. Milky Spore can be gotten thru any number of plant catalogues, isn't that expensive.
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