How to feed small birds without attracting pigeons?

Today I replenished the saucer of mealworms and when I looked about an hour later they were all mostly gone, and the saucer hadn't been moved, and I only saw the robin hopping in and out of the frame and around it. There might be more than one robin, but I only ever see one. There were quite a lot of mealworms, hard to imagine that tiny bird managed to devour them all so quickly on his own. Maybe he is taking some for his lady, but it seems a bit early for breeding season so probably not for his babies yet?

No sign of the pigeon and the blackbirds haven't ransacked, yet, fingers crossed.

 

Robins are very territorial and you normally only see one male in any given area, though I had two - together - in my back garden the other day, and they were not fighting.
We do not need a squirrel cage for peanuts. None of the birds here seem to go for them. I had to throw half a feederful out as they had started to go mouldy.
I always put seeds on the ground for the pigeons. We only have about three or four that visit, two that always come together and appear to be a pair. Being more "country" out here we do not get the city slickers. And as for Greggs. Living near the coast, as we do, a pigeon wouldn't get near a Greggs for the great white sh:thawks that frequent Greggs around here.

 

I've only found blue tits going for peanuts in a cage type feeder, and they seem to have to spend more energy getting at them than the nut provides.
As I said earlier I find blue tits, and the like, prefer to grab a nut and fly off with it and being quick they get amongst the doves and pigeons.

 

I have two feeders one with mixed seed that is rarely touched. Most birds won't eat the barley in the mix, so that gets thrown out for the pheasants. The other has sunflower hearts that all the birds eat. There is also an open basket attached to the bird station which I put a handful of peanuts in, a few raisins and a mixture of all the seed. Blackbirds will take the sunflower and raisins (which they love), also the occasional peanut, but not the rest of the mix.

I always feed the birds first thing and there will be up to ten Blackbirds waiting for me at the garden boundary. I scatter them a handful of raisins before filling the feeders.

Pigeons stay away from the bird station and tend to pick over the lawns, but I don't find them as greedy as the Collared Doves who will clear the basket in a minute or two. I chase them off if I spot them. During the early part of this winter I was having problems with a male Pheasant. He discovered he could fly up and perch on the edge of the basket to clear it of food. For a while I'd looped and tied some old washing line around it to stop him, still allowing the other birds through. But being a wily bird he worked out how to detach the basket from the station. It has a couple of prongs that slot into an attachment on the pole, it's also quite heavy, so it amazed me he could release it. He has gone now. I caught him in the act one day and in his bid to escape got caught up and hurt himself, so he rarely visits now.

 

This from the RSPB. During Spring and Summer:

Avoid using peanuts, fat and bread at this time, since these can be harmful if adult birds feed them to their nestlings. If you feel you must put out peanuts, only do so in suitable mesh feeders that will not allow sizeable pieces of peanuts to be taken, reducing the choking risk to chicks.

 

I had problems with Jackdaws unhooking the fat ball feeder and dropping it so it sprung open. I had to use locking hooks.

 

I remember you posting about the hooks Jocko, they're a good idea. I have crows here but they're too lazy to bother with the feeders.

 

We have two gorgeous Collared Doves feeding off the seeds in our back garden. They have been here for a couple of days now.

 

Actually had 2 robins at the feeder yesterday. Good chums they were - happy to feed together. Hopefully a mating pair ,
Jenny namaste

 

Having looked at pictures of the female Robin it could well have been a mating pair we had in the garden. I didn't think the female had such a red breast as they do.

 

I think I am probably going to give up trying to feed the small birds. Today I had soaked the mealworms in hot water for half an hour, because it is getting near breeding season, though not quite yet I thought I better start doing it that way, and the birds could be feeding them to their babies who could choke on dried mealworms, then drained them and filled a saucer to the brim with them, and put the saucer under the upturned wall basket. A while later I noticed a very fat pigeon devouring them in a couple of minutes. There were two smaller birds, one looked like a small magpie (pied magpie?) desperately trying to get near the food, but the pigeon wouldn't let them. When I went out a couple of minutes later there were only a few mealworms left in the bottom of the saucer, which the robin was eating.

Just maybe if I don't fill the saucer too much at a time the pigeon won't be able to reach them, but sadly I will probably have to give up or think of something else.

Really sad, as those two little birds who were trying to get near the food are exactly who I would like to attract, as well as the robin.

The pigeon as well as being greedy, eating everything in a couple of minutes, and stopping the small birds from feeding makes a horrible mess that the neighbours wouldn't like either.

I didn't realise that the upturned wall basket frame was absolutely useless for keeping the pigeon out of the small birds' food. And in the beginning I thought the pigeon wouldn't eat mealworms, but it seems they are so greedy that they eat absolutely anything and everything.

I just scattered the remaining mealworms from the open bag in various parts of the garden, so that if the pigeon comes back at least the small birds can get them too, and just noticed the pied magpie (?) is back in my garden. Maybe I will just use up the mealworms I already have in that way, and then stop feeding the birds completely. Somebody else can work out a way to do it.

Edit: right now the robin and the pied magpie (?) are hopping all over the garden eating the scattered mealworms, and no sign of the pigeon. It is so nice to see these little birds, but I may still give up when all the mealworms I have are gone.

 

You speak of a pied Magpie @groundbeetle? I don't think they exist. Is it possible for you to get a photo of it please?

 

I will try to, but it seems more shy than the robin, and today was the first time I have seen it in my garden, although I have seen it on a nearby roof for a while now. It was a small bird, only slightly bigger than the robin and not as round. Black and white. It seemed shy and gentle, and both the magpie(?) and the robin were afraid of going near the food when the pigeon was there, they were hopping around nearby but avoiding the pigeon and forgoing the food.

 

A Pied Wagtail perhaps....