I’m ashamed to admit that it took me over a week to figure out what was emptying my bird feeder so quickly. Eventually I caught someone the act. I should’ve known:
Fortunately crows are extremely smart, and I’m able to use that intelligence against them. Crows are very suspicious of objects and gadgets.
For years I had problems with them dunking things in my birdbaths…English muffins, bagels (the neighbor lady throws all her stale bread in the backyard) and my least favorite, the guts and innards of road kill. Then one summer I put a Water Wiggler in the birdbath to discourage mosquitoes, and was pleased to discover that crows are completely freaked out by them. As long as I keep a Water Wiggler in each of my birdbaths, I no longer have to spend time fishing out squirrel intestines. Plus mosquitoes aren’t laying eggs in my birdbaths either. It’s a win-win.
To keep the crows from emptying my feeders, I needed to find something to put on top of the bird feeders that would make them think twice about landing. But it had to be something that wouldn’t scare off the smaller birds. Enter the Cat Scat Mat:
Cat Scat Mats are sold to discourage cats from using flowerbeds or pots as litter boxes. I find many uses for them. This summer a baby bunny spent each afternoon chomping on one of my roses. He wasn’t deterred by anything I sprayed or sprinkled in the area. I finally set Cat Scat Mats around the base of the rose. Bunny found greener pastures that weren’t so prickly, and my rose was able to recover.
I’ve also used Cat Scat Mats to discourage chipmunks from digging in my flowerpots and squirrels from jumping onto my feeders from the roof or nearby trees. The plastic teeth are rounded off on top and spaced far enough apart that they are harmless, just uncomfortable to sit on or walk over or land on.
I figured out a way to tie 4 Cat Scat Mats to the roof of the feeder. The smaller birds still have plenty of places to sit, and in fact I’ve watched Juncos plop right on top of the mats without a reaction.
I happened to be standing in front of the window when the first crow came in for a landing. When he saw the Cat Scat Mats, he quickly aborted and flew into a nearby tree. He must’ve told all his other crow friends because I haven’t had a problem with crows on my feeder since.
