Date: 1/10/25 3:17 pm From: Debora Diggins <debora.diggins...> Subject: [Arlington Birds] bird feeders and baths, rats, and ravens
Hi folks,Regarding the bird bath and rats, well, there are rats in Arlington for sure. Can't speak for other locales.
It's best to keep your bird bath water clean. The birds will leave their droppings in the water and so do the squirrels. That can't be healthy for any animals. As for taking down our bird feeders and bath because of rats, no way. It is so entertaining to see the birds just a few feet away on our deck. But we do buy the no mess seeds that are completely edible and the squirrels and ground feeding birds take care of any that drop onto the deck so there's not much, if anything, left over for the rats by nightfall. We've seen rats eating dog poop so if you have a dog you let out in the yard, be sure to dispose of that waste if you're worried about attracting rats. Of course rats also love a home garden and they used to eat our tomatoes and other veggies. We know this because we have a camera out there recording all of the shenanigans. We stopped growing our food but not because of that. We use snap traps to keep the rat population down. We take down the feeders in late spring and put them back up in late fall.
I've been hoping our neighborhood ravens will stop by for some water from the bird bath, but no luck. There was one raven calling from the tree in the backyard a few days ago which we watched from the deck, and then the following day the same bird, identifiable by a missing primary feather, and another raven had a great time taunting and playing with my nephew's german shepherd at the Winchester Country Club golf course! I wish I had seen this myself, because they were reportedly landing in front of her just out of reach and she would run up to them and of course they would take off and fly right above her head calling and circling around her. They appeared to all be having a wonderful time, our german shepherd showed no malice or frustration and was clearly enjoying the chase. This reminded me of the relationship that ravens have with coyotes and wolves in wilderness areas, where the dogs leave carcasses behind for the ravens to polish off. And of course, there are many Native American stories about the interrelationship between ravens and coyotes or wolves.
Debora
