Wildlanders Birding Database

Wildlanders Anti-Starling Suet Feeder

Here is how it works. The concept works on the principle of refusing the starlings the use of their wings. Starlings can learn to hang upside down on a botton mounted or under-carriage suet feeder. To do so, there is a lot of flapping of their wings. The concept here is to remove their ability to use their wings by installing a "wing sheild" made from a common 2-liter pop bottle.

Woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, etc can hop vertically up a log. Don't ask me how they do it, I think they move laterally but up a bit on each hop. Regardless, they can work their way up a log without using their wings. Starlings cannot do this. They are very dependent on being able to use their wings to obtain a holding and to reposition themselves.

The wing shield should be just wide enough to hamper the starlings use of their wings. Any larger and the starling may be able to fly up in there.

Large woodpeckers can still climb up the board to the bottom of the suet cage. There will not be enough room for them to get on the cage, but that is ok. All they need is to be able to get to the lower part of the cage.

The plastic wing shield should have tabs or hooks attached so that it can be removed to insert more suet into the cage. There are many ways to do this and I will leave that to you. This one was designed for a side opening cage, but a few modifications will support the top opening cages as well.

NOTE: The drawing does not show this, but the wing shield should be mounted so that there is a one to two inch gap at the top. This allows for ventilation in warm weather. Also, make sure this feeder is mounted where cats cannot get to it. When birds get up in there, there is no way for them to fly away if a cat jumps up. These feeders should be hung at a very miminum of 6 feet from the ground.

The top of the feeder can be tilted outward slightly (use a narrow strip of board attached to the top back of the main climbing board) giving a downward facing slope to the climbing ramp. Also, instead of a pop bottle shield, you can design a more elegant frame around the cage with clear plastic sheeting and wood ribs. Again, leave a gap at the top for ventilation.

Please consider Alternatives to Animial Fat Based Wild Bird Foods

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