22 replies to this topic

[brad_a]

I am so depressed. I remember when I liked our neighborhood. Now I have three surrounding neighbors with dogs. I was just informed today that the next door neighbor is putting up a chain linked fence so he can get a puppy. Aghhh, so mad. I enjoy my backyard birds, especially the shier ones as well as migrating species. I have to say, i feel those days are over. One of the people with dogs has a dog that barks all the time when outside, now those two dogs will probably just bark at each other. Do other posterss have this problem and have you seen an effect on birds found in the backyard?

[Shoveler26]

well not really I have two (on each side) Loud Dogs and the Birds don't seem to be affected by the barking once they get used to the dogs sound or bark and then to them it is just like a car going by so yeah don't worry!

[JimBob]

I have a dog who loves to chase birds. . . and that didn't stop me from getting 90 yard birds! He has killed at least four, and I still have got a TON of birds. Like shoveler said, birds don't really mind dogs that much. They even will come to my feeder with him five feet away. . . they just wait for him to turn his head.

[spyonabird]

I have a big barky dog and also dogs in EVERY yard that touches mine. I still get tons of birds. The cardinals and the chickadees just ignore my dog. They will land on the feeder even when he is sitting under it. - no fear. However....he scares off the resident Cooper Hawk whenever it perches on the fence.

[JimBob]

Yeah, my dog really doesn't like hawks or owls. . . but they don't seem to mind him.

[creeker]

Yeah, the birds used to practically land on my dogs. They used to eat all my dog's food before the dogs could get to it. And I had four large dogs! Ravens, Crows, Starlings, House Sparrows, Song Sparrows, House Finches, California Towhees, Scrub Jays, and more all used to get in on the party. I'd look out the door at my snoozing dogs as the hordes of feathered scavengers took full advantage.

[spyonabird]

If my dog (Chef) is outside playing, I will bring a bowl of water for him and set it on the patio. The House Finches think it is a new birdbath...

[cabirds]

Dogs aren't natural predators of birds, so there's really no function of "genetic memory" there to guide them away from dogs. If the dog approaches aggressively, the bird will generally flee. I have many hundreds of birds through a day, and they ignore any barking from the neighbor dogs, and even my dog as long as he doesn't get within a few feet of them. If he crouches and does the stalking-thing, they'll fly, but only out of reach - fence or low tree branches, or up onto the feeders themselves if there's room. As soon as he loses interest, they're right back on the ground where they were as if he were never there.

He did get a wild hair one evening - caught and ate a dove. But compared to the Sharpies and Coopers, it's an immeasurably small attrition.

Remember that we are providing an unnaturally "cheap" food source. It's nearly infinite in availability with an incredibly small caloric expense to retrieve it, and an extraordinarily low risk factor. From an environmental genetics standpoint, we risk weakening the various species we feed. A little predation is actually not a bad thing at all. We must be thankful we have things like the accipiters and even, yes, the dogs and cats to help raise the cost of that food-source a bit. Every dove that is bagged by the Sharpie encourages quicker stronger Sharpies, and culls the slower less attentive dove, and natural selection is fulfilled. If a dove that can move in three-space can't even escape a dog - what hope does it have against a Sharpie?!? Do we want that dove to have access to infinite resources and therefore infinite potential to reproduce? Nature will take its course and the species will be that much stronger for it.

[threeofhardts]

This thread is an oldie but I wanted to comment that I'd take dogs over kids any day. A couple months ago a young family bought the empty house next door. They have four kids. Constant whooping, screaming, squeeling, hollering and riding of a dirt bike...sigh. I have an acre of property with several nesting boxes scattered around. This past weekend one of the kids was riding his dirt bike on my property out back. It may be why the chickadees appear to have abandoned their nest with 9 eggs.

[spyonabird]

This thread is an oldie but I wanted to comment that I'd take dogs over kids any day. A couple months ago a young family bought the empty house next door. They have four kids. Constant whooping, screaming, squeeling, hollering and riding of a dirt bike...sigh. I have an acre of property with several nesting boxes scattered around. This past weekend one of the kids was riding his dirt bike on my property out back. It may be why the chickadees appear to have abandoned their nest with 9 eggs.

They make invisible fences for dogs. i wonder if that would work for kids too? Although, it might be a little hard to attach the shock collar

[meghann]

I have four kids. . .and a dog. We still get plenty of birds on our feeders.

[creeker]

At the same house with all the birds eating the dog's food, I let the neighborhood kids build a dirt bike track around the pond. They would race three at a time. Bothered me more than the birds nesting in the area, but I figured it was worth a little inconvenience on my part if those kids had something fun to do outside. Just be happy for those kids next door. They get to grow up somewhere where they can have fun outdoors, instead of stay inside and play video games. I'm sure it doesn't bother the birds at all. You will get used to the kids in time. I would try to get to know the family. If you don't want them on your property, then it will be easier to tell them nicely. They might even develop an interest in birding.

[spyonabird]

in all seriousness, I have Bluebirds nesting 10 ft from where the neighbors boys are cllimbing trees, playing baseball and having a great (loud) time. The birds have nesting in that same box for the last 5 years. Look at this as an opportunity to influence young minds and maybe they will begin to have an appreciation and love for nature like you do.

[threeofhardts]

I'll admit, I'm not a 'kid' person. Where I work (retail) there are screaming kids all day and parents who ignore them. My home used to be my sane place away from the madness. I guess what bothered me the most is, the parents were outside while their son was riding his dirt bike in my yard and never said a word to him. Not starting off on the right foot as far as I'm concerned. I don't see us 'neighboring' any time soon.

[meghann]

Yeah, I do understand on that. All four of my kids know to not play in anyone's yard unless they have permission.

[JimBob]

Yeah, I do understand on that. All four of my kids know to not play in anyone's yard unless they have permission.

Us homeschoolers are extra polite!

[dklucius]

one neighbor has a mixed breed little yipper all of 5 or 6 lbs of nervous energy. he shows up in my back yard maybe once a week yipping
and running in circles and the ground feeding birds just fly up into the trees till he heads home. he has never came close to catching anything and the cat from the other neighbors house has chased him off a number of times.

[Inzl Kett]

I have a nieghbor two houses down that has a cocker spaniel. The animal gets loose and leaves her calling card on my deck. She is scaring off the song birds that come to my yard.

[creeker]

OP, I'm thinking your property is not fenced? Here in California, it seems everyone's property is fenced, no matter how large the parcel. My "yard" was five acres and was fenced with barbed wire. Remember the old adage "Good fences make good neighbors."

[JimBob]

Man, I don't think I have seen a non fenced yard in CA. And I have been there several times.