I know they have a right to eat also but they drive all the smaller native birds away. Now the finches, chickadees, etc. won't even bother coming to my feeder.
You might want to get some specialty feeders, especially the tube kind that will close the feeder hole when a large bird lands on it. Since they eat all seeds and grains that may be your best way to make sure the smaller birds get to eat.
2ofus, many birds have their turn at the our feeders, some longer than others. Over the years our feeding system has eliminated pesky squirrels, allowed many types of birds to feed separately and can be adjusted to eliminate monopolizing the feeder. All feeders are hung from stainless steel wires strung between the house and surrounding trees. A nut and screw mounted at various intervals allow for feeders to be positioned without shifting location along the wire. A thistle feeder for finches, sunflower feeder for the larger seed group(cardinals, titmouse, chickadee, nuthatch) and suet feeders for woodpeckers and Bluebirds are positioned along three wires. Doves either feed with the ground birds(mostly Juncos) or use a circular platform on the sunflower feeder. If we feel that they are staying too long the platform is removable. Designed by ornithologists from the next town over, the reasonably priced feeders are available in many configurations, online and in feedstores like Agway. Brand name is available by PM. Jerry
They come onto my "stoep" to eat the dogfood and then gets in the house. They are NOT very clever they NEVER find the way out on their own. The cat thinks its one big game, me trying to shoo them out before they mess on everything and the dogs doesn't even bother getting up. I tell them every morning, "don't let the doves eat your food" but to no avail.
There is a chap making a bird feeder for me at the moment. He is a the man of a friend of my bride and so I have seen his prototype in action. I was just there a few days ago and saw it "in progress". He makes them out of sturdy materials and makes use of a certain type of plastified wire gauze and the clever bit is the measured distance of the dowel just outside the covered feeding table. He did trials on this and discovered the distance from the perching dowel to where the seeds are...so that if the dove tries to peck them it will loose its balance. It really did work at his house. If the bird feeder will work in our lottie will need to be seen...but I have great hope. When the feeder is finally ready, I will try and remember to let you know...with foto's.
