
How two seemingly good ideas went terribly wrong
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Yes unfortunately I'm having starlings eating my expensive dried mealworms that my bluebirds need/eat. I'm trying to scare them away with an air rifle...I'm not a good shot but the sound scares them, but sometimes only temporarily. I don't want to stop feeding my beautiful bluebirds but not sure what to do to get rid of these bully birds! :(
What's the difference between introducing "beneficial insects" into your garden and introducing an invasive species?
The difference boils down to competition and the species’ roles in the ecosystem.
Because beneficial insects are generally native or naturalized to the area, they tend to already have a role to play in the ecosystem. This means that their population is unlikely to grow out of control and push out other native species, since they already have a niche to fill and predators to keep them in check.
Invasive species, on the other hand, are not native to the environment, which means that in most cases they do not fit comfortably into the ecosystem. Instead, they will likely have to push out native species, which can be deadly to those species and detrimental to the ecosystem as a whole due to unforeseen consequences of losing native species (look up the introduction of weasels to New Zealand in the late 1800s for a prime example).
Practically speaking, what this means is that gardeners should only introduce native or naturalized beneficial insects into their gardens. Companies that sell beneficial insects responsibly should know this info and only sell the correct species for your area.
When the starlings try to roost or rest in my 100+ year old white oaks I find that using my Revere Ware copper bottom pan and banging on it with a wooden spoon runs them off. You have to do this as they are trying to stop and roost and they remember and don't come back. They hate that sound and now I have a clean car and driveway.
Last week some starlings were migrating through Naples, Fl. I noticed that they were moving through the trees that had nesting birds. I am certain that they ate the eggs in all the nests because the eggs were gone the next day and the birds were no longer sitting on the nests. Some of the birds began making new nests today in new locations.
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