Blackbirds …sigh

Thank you Fiona, a good image. Yes was watching the fluttering babes yesterday. Thank for the sensible response.

cat is the obvious way to go - go to a rescue center and get a freeby neutered one.

i totally agree with you that you dont need worms in pots for birds to dig - this time i think these blackbirds are actually planting cherry stones to increase the natural food supplies (squirrels do it - partly when storing food but nature has a funny way of looking after itself).

i'm flanked by woodland and have had up to 9 blackbirds in the garden at the same time - luckilly both neibours have cats that pass through our garden on their daily hunts so the birds are unsettled quite frequently - magpies are good and bad - they hunt other birds but do damage themselves - you can trap magpies as they are a pest species

[quote="fiona"]

Hi Fiona,
Here is mine on our roof watching his territory of pots.
Over the years he developed a nice half white moon in his neck, which makes him easy to recognize.

regards, Sunip

Pellet gun or 22 works great and if your careful won't waste much meat.

Pellet gun or 22 works great and if your careful won't waste much meat.


Said by one, who knows what he is talking about

I suspect the poster would prefer some sensible solutions to his problem given that this item was lodged in Bonsai Questions rather than General Banter, and especially as going around loosing off ammunition is probably (and rightly) frowned upon where Mike lives.

I can't provide any sensible and practical responses as I haven't actually had a problem with mine, cohabiting peacefully with my trees as they do. Any other solutions please, otherwise I may have to move this to General Drivel after all.

And that would be a shame.

Cage?

http://www.cats-on-line.com/catcagesbronze.htm

-dorothy

Every now and then when the weather is dry the blackbirds come and dig up all the moss off my bonasai and dump it on the ground! But, as soon as we have had rain and the weather is less dry then they clear off. It must be hard to find worms in rock hard ground. I also throw old fruit and bird food to the opposite side of the garden, then they tend to leave the trees alone. They also get on the roof and throw off the moss from up there too! Its not a help really, just a 'I know how you feel'. They come and go and thats ok with me!

lindabob wrote:Every now and then when the weather is dry the blackbirds come and dig up all the moss off my bonasai and dump it on the ground! But, as soon as we have had rain and the weather is less dry then they clear off. It must be hard to find worms in rock hard ground. I also throw old fruit and bird food to the opposite side of the garden, then they tend to leave the trees alone. They also get on the roof and throw off the moss from up there too! Its not a help really, just a 'I know how you feel'. They come and go and thats ok with me!

Thanks for that:) I've had my second week now without any disturbance so keeping everything crossed.

Mike

Over the last week , we haven't seen ANY blackbirds at all , from five pairs of adults including "tommy" who has been here for the last six years plus the young from this year which was about eleven at the last count to zero . its quite lonely in the garden now .
Tommy lived in the camellia hedge across the road and would see you at the window when you got up and by the time you got down stairs and opened the back door he was bouncing up and down on the step , now nothing

is this the last young blackbird we will see (taken 23/4/11)

I've just had a major bird moss removal week here too!! My main suspect was a Thrush. I even got photographic evidence!! Hard to blame them, the ground is hard as a brick.


DSC_0199 by Bonsai eejit, on Flickr

I have one solution (sorry for joking) but moving is the only solution, besides building a bonsai-cage, keeping birds out and trees in.
I had serious problems when I live in the city, but after moving out to the countryside on an old farmhouse two years ago the blackbird-pest disappeared. There are so many other small birds that keeps the few blackbirds around away. Lucky me who now can have my trees unwatched and uncovered under open air.

So having blackbirds is a major problem. It is a extremely stupid annoying and teasingly bird, who for fun (or out of stupidity) turns all mosses i.e. to see if there is anything edible underneath.
A friend of mine, Johnny Eslykke, has covered his bonsai with a building not making blackbirds come near the trees. If the door is left open, the birds turns the mosses covering the soil surface over in minutes.
Below a picture of the building which I can recommend as the only solution I know of minimizing this feathered threat.

Regards
Morten

What I'm getting at is they have gone , disappeared , vanished ; all in the last two weeks , I'm not bothered anymore about the moss being dug up etc , just the garden is dead without them