Magpie’s and Crows constantly raiding my bird feeder
I have a bird feeding station similar to the last picture (without the open feeding trays). The feeders I’ve got currently hanging from the station are shown in pics 1-3.
During the winter I had so many lovely little song birds come to my feeder. Blue Tits, Great Tits, Robins, Wrens, Dunnocks, and even Great Spotted Woodpeckers. The larger birds like Magpie, Crows, Jays, Pigeons, Doves and Green Woodpeckers would collect the fallen seed from the ground.
In the past month the Magpies and Crows have figured out how to cling on to my feeders and basically raid the suet and seed feeders within days. They fight with each other to get the food (once to the extent it looked like a Magpie may have been quite injured as there was big chunks of feathers all over my garden). The small song birds aren’t coming as much now because I feel like the big ones are scaring them away(although it could also be because the weather has warmed up).
I loved watching the little song birds come and feed. The Crows and Magpie’s are costing me a fortune with how frequently they go through the food. Is there anything I can do to prevent them coming and raising my feeders? A special type that only song birds can use? (I did think I had that covered tbh).