Those darn blackbirds!

A flock of blackbirds come to my garden often and seem to be trying to mess it up. I have plastic down with mulch on top. They pick through the mulch and grab onto the plastic and pull it up. They have also been pecking my coral bells and a geranium. I am afraid they are going to start on my tomatos as they ripen. When they first started coming, I was feeding them sunflower seeds and I guess they thought they were welcome to make themselves at home. Has anyone else experienced vandalism by blackbirds?

I got rid of these birds by purchasing a special blend of seed from Wildbirds Unlimited. It is specifically blended for birds in your area that you want to attract. It is a little more expensive, however, there is no waste and therefore does not attract undesirable birds.

Changing what seed blend you put in a feeder might keep them away from your feeder but it prob. won't do much to keep 'em out of your garden or away from your plants.
I have some bird doing a number on my tomatoes... as soon as they ripen, something eats on 'em like it's an apple. So annoying. I thought it might be the dreaded tomato worm but it's not... the leaves are all in tact... they don't bother the green tomatoes, only the ripened ones. I'm thinking about going the plastic owl route or the net cover stuff I've seen advertised.
I'm still getting several tomatoes but nothing like earlier in the season before the little bugger found the garden.

The plastic owls do nothing. Even if you move them alot, it doesn't take all the critters long to figure them out. I've seen birds and squirrels sitting on my fake owl's head, lol.

~Kris

heyitsmejudy I tried the net cover a few years back. So sad a bird got stuck in it made me cry :( I have learned to share my fruits/vegs with all my yard friends! :)

Irislover, Wal-Mart has one that moves its head around all the time - I wonder if that would be a scarier owl for the garden. It costs 20 bucks but it might be worth it. Trouble is, I don't want to scare ALL the birds away - I just put a new bird bath out there!

Maybe if you tried feeding on the other side of your house away from your garden? Of course if you are having flocks there now like we get here in the winter then they will be everywhere.

Omigosh. Have you ever seen Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds???!!!"

When you are in the middle of a flock there is no sound to compare to thousands of wings.

I'll take your word for it, fchisolm!!! While I am quite the bird lover, I do still cringe when I remember that darn movie!

So far, I have only seen one bird - a dove - checking out my new bird bath. I wonder how long it will take them to find out it's there? It would be sad if no birds came after I planned a party.

we have had 14 days of rain. No birds have visited my bath all that time.