How to: Keep Aggressive House Sparrows Away from a Songbird Feeder

Don't you just love it when songbirds finally show up at your feeder? These shy little critters timidly fly up, take a seed or two, and shyly fly away. Over time, trust is built up. When they feel comfortable to hang around a little longer, you almost feel a sense of accomplishment. Then, the sparrows move in and bully them till they go elsewhere.

I for one do not want to feed a bunch of little bullies. That's like rewarding them for being bad. One product that I recommend to combat this problem is the "Magic Halo". You may have heard of this little contraption if you happen to frequent birding forums or the like. It's pretty popular because it works really well.

After you hang this around your feeder, sparrows will not want to fly under the hoop/between the dangling wires because instinctually they like to be able to fly away from danger as fast as possible, and they know that they could become tangled in the wires. With the bullies out of the way, our favorite little songbirds are free to come back and enjoy a feast as they are not affected by the same sort of instincts.