Thursday, March 17, 2011

Question from the Green Housewife - How Do You Keep Birds from Ruining Your Garden?

I have always been a bird lover, since I was a little girl when I would look at pictures of birds in "Audobon's North American Bird's Guide".  Even Alfred Hitcock's movie "Birds" didn't weaken my love for my feathered friends - when I was a teenager, we went camping by the Northern California seaside, and I was so excited to recognize the call of Hitchcocks birds. One of the reasons I love living where we live now, out in the country, is in the Spring you can hear birds singing all day long.
      But lately, these avian creatures have been taking over our yard - they are eating the seeds from my garden, and I had to stop hanging clothes on the line because they keep pooping on our clothes! I caught a beautiful bluebird eating my newly planted squash seeds the other morning:
I do not want to develop the same disdain for birds that Wodehouse's Freddie Widgeon developed for cats, so I am trying to find humane solutions to scaring them away from my garden and my clothesline. So I am going to try moving a scarecrow around the yard (at night so they don't catch on) and see what that does. I sort of expect them to roost on it after a few days, but we shall see.
      How do you keep birds from your garden and clothesline? Any tips would be appreciated!

15 comments:

  1. My Grandmother always said to plant your seeds at sundown so the birds don't see you doing it. She always had a beautiful garden.

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  2. Becky - that is a really good tip - I will try that! Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. Old CD's strung on string and hung over/around the gardens to wave in the breeze. The sunlight reflecting off them makes it difficult for the birds to land. The more silver they are the better. There will be a few cunning ones who's greed makes them find a different route to the garden but you should have less seed/plant losses.

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  4. Oh dear ... I really haven't a clue - Robyn's idea of the old cds sound good. Your reference to Wodehous made me think of Roal Dahl's The Twits - where they put glue on the clothesline to catch the birds for pies! Ugh!

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  5. RobynK's idea reminds me of reading of using all sorts of shiny things: foil pie tins, the tops off the orange juice concentrate containers, old cds and dvds... I'm sure there are more things that can be used. You could string them together and hang them from trees, might be pretty, too.

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  6. Thanks guys! I will try the "shiny things" idea - it could be really pretty if I do it right!

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  7. Hi there, you could also try dangling old tin cans tied up with rope, They can be shiny and noisy and also look quite pretty and rustic as they age.... Good luck!

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  8. Hi, that bird is beautiful! I am lucky that we have lots of birds around, but they seem to ignore the vege garden (although I wish they would eat the slugs and bugs for me!). I have the same advice as the other posts, hang up anything silver that you can think of! You can also try bird netting on certain trees/areas that you're worried about. Even net curtains would work. You could lay that over the soil until the seeds have sprouted.

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  9. Gooseberry Jam - I love the tin can idea - very green and frugal!

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  10. Farmer Liz - I may try the bird netting over our tomato plant - thanks for the tip!

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  11. Oh my! It really sounds like the birds are becoming an issue for you. I hope some of the ideas work because I haven't any ideas myself.

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  12. Joyful - haha! they are taking over the place! I still love birds, but I hope that this works because I would love to hang my laundry out to dry.

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  13. Yes indeed, anything shiny will scare them off, they see themselves and think it's another bird.

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  14. How terrible! We have tons of birds around but they have never caused me any gardening grief. (The rabbits are another story...). I wish you luck in finding a happy middle ground with your bird neighbors!

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  15. Using fake 'rubber' snakes strategically placed helps to a degree and also hanging CD's from branches near to what you are trying to protect creates a great 'flashy' shine.

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