Backyard Pesting Dilemma…

i do understand your situation..... i love my Cardinals, thrusters and woodies.
but them house sparrows and starlings really make it hard to keep them in check because there right there with the
good ones. as spring is coming, the unwanted become a big problem.
thats when my .177 guns get there workout

Nothing wrong with giving a pass when some are struggling, compassion isn't a fault. WM

I love watching birds too.

Paracelsus rephrase from my profession to maybe frame your dilemma....."the dose makes the poison."

One of the reasons we deem starlings and house sparrows worthy of "pest" status on farms is because they tend to overrun the places. Very similar in my prairie dog pesting in and around irrigated fields.

Winter or not, if I get a chance on a starling or sparrow, I take it. If they're out there struggling, good. They're invasive pest birds and if you shoot them the other 9 months of the year, why give a pass during winter?

If they're struggling to survive in an ecosystem they were never meant to be in, just think how bad the natives are doing.

Bluebirds eat mosquitos so they always get a pass.

@L.Leon When we got hit with a freeze a couple of years ago and temps hit -3F I witnessed small birds struggle to scratch through snow and ice to reach food. At best they’d have to eat behind larger birds and animals that could. What I found most interesting was my dog, at the time, never wanted to sleep in a dog house after seeing his brother die in one. As an adult dog going through this freeze, he slept curled up on a blanket next to the dog house I put on the porch for him. On the coldest two days of that freeze I saw a small, scraggly, browinish-black, starling-looking bird fly out of the hedgerow and land on my dog’s back. My dog didn’t move. The bird would hunker down and sleep on his back. Then I witnessed what I assumed was the little bird eating ticks or fleas off of my dog (this dog lived free with very few baths from the time I let him out of the kennel until the day he died). What that taught me about survival is that sometimes different species will overlook certain things understanding that all are trying to survive, so if they aren’t looking at each other as predator or prey the presence of one another seemed pretty insignificant under harsh conditions. I know that under normal circumstances that my dog would’ve shooed that bird away.

With that said, I can understand your compassion. I would also understand if you took this as an opportunity to eliminate an unwanted pest species that have been problematic around your property. It’s your choice. Considering the story above, I can’t say what I’d do until I was in that particular situation.

L.Leon said:

I shoot them without mercy all year. Its in my backyard that I struggle with it. Since I am inviting them in…


Would never shoot a Blue Bird, because if you miss? They will tear you limb from limb…

@Ezana4CE, thank you. I don’t consider a problem on my property. At my permission they get zero mercy…

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Ahhh... I get what you mean now. I thought you didn't feel right shooting them when they're down on their luck!

If one looks at this situation in a particular way, shooting only some of the pest birds that visit the bird feeder may invest in a more evolved problem for the future. I'd call it a karmic wash in the end.

A lot of critters are not pests or invasive until we put out bait and create a situation. Some guys just can’t wrap their heads around that. For those that do, it’s becomes something we have to ponder. When black bear start showing up at my and neighbors bird feeders, we don’t declare the bear a pest and try to get permission to shoot it. We take down our feeders for a while. Life does go on if the bird feeder isn’t hanging for a month and things get time for a reset.

My bird feeders have been empty for weeks because gray squirrel have cut their winter hibernation short due to this wonderful food source. They are killing the feed so I could have declared them a pest and started ballistic testing or take the high road because it’s 100% my fault.

Luis I understand and applaud your thinking! As we get older, we are supposed to get wiser and hopefully out hearts soften too, yours has aged gracefully!

What's the difference between baiting to attract an invasive species to the kill zone and those same invasive species arriving at your feeder intended for non-invasives? Consider your feeders coincidental bait stations. Dual purpose.

L.Leon said:

The same pest birds, English house sparrows and starlings that I kill without mercy at my permissions. I have a hard time culling out in my backyard. Here’s the gist, I have five different suet cake stations. Two at 15 yards, two at 35 yards and one at 53 yards. These past few days because of the snow, there have been at least 50+ birds out there at a time. House sparrows and starlings “do” show up and in the past? I have culled many, but of late am having a hard time picking winners and losers. Because of the fact that I am inviting birds to eat and I do enjoy watching them… Heck there were just a dozen starlings at 25 yards! So killing some over others in this instance has become harder for me… Thoughts welcomed. The toughest buggers are the Blue Birds, they are fearless of the bigger birds…

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Don't know what your state laws are there. I talked to a state game warden about shooting pest birds off of feeders and he told me it was considered baiting and illegal in my state. I know a lot of people don't care, just saying. Mark

L.Leon said:

The same pest birds, English house sparrows and starlings that I kill without mercy at my permissions. I have a hard time culling out in my backyard. Here’s the gist, I have five different suet cake stations. Two at 15 yards, two at 35 yards and one at 53 yards. These past few days because of the snow, there have been at least 50+ birds out there at a time. House sparrows and starlings “do” show up and in the past? I have culled many, but of late am having a hard time picking winners and losers. Because of the fact that I am inviting birds to eat and I do enjoy watching them… Heck there were just a dozen starlings at 25 yards! So killing some over others in this instance has become harder for me… Thoughts welcomed. The toughest buggers are the Blue Birds, they are fearless of the bigger birds…

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When you witness them mercilessly dragging native song bird chicks out of the nests in the spring/early summer you will think again about handing out passes. They kill every other baby bird they find.