Date: 1/14/25 4:29 am From: Amy Ellentuck <ymaeus...> Subject: Re: [Arlington Birds] bird feeders and baths, rats, and ravens
Is a suet feeder better for keeping the possibility of the rats away?
Amy
On Fri, Jan 10, 2025 at 6:17 PM Debora Diggins <debora.diggins...>
wrote:
> 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
>
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