Bigotry is for the birds

Did you know that swinging nuts can deter thugs?

No, I am not talking about an unneutered dogs. Or humans. I’m talking about the anti-sparrow device I made for my chickadee feeder.

Sparrows have lately been mobbing my bird feeder, which is not a regular bird feeder, but a specialized chickadee feeder, plainly marked as such. Apparently the sparrows don’t care, or else they think I have no right to discriminate.

Bullshit. Sparrows are unwanted alien birds who act like bullies and mess with my chickadees (and their friends, the nuthatches). They are aggressive, messy, and while I’m uninterested in all that environmentalist “invasive species” claptrap, I just don’t want to feed them. Let them go somewhere else.

So I Googled the problem, and much to my surprise I read about a specifically anti-sparrow device called the “Magic Halo” — a metal ring which mounts right above the feeder, and to which is attached four wires from which are suspended heavy nuts.

When I read that this would frighten away sparrows while not bothering chickadees, I was skeptical. I didn’t want to shell out $25.00 or so, but the principle seemed easy enough, so I fashioned the top “ring” from a small barbecue grill, and from that I hung (er, suspended) four nuts from metal wires, like so:

To my utter astonishment, the sparrows which had been mobbing the feeder immediately were stopped dead in their tracks. The chickadees — and their nuthatch buddies —  seemed a bit puzzled at first by the swinging mobile type sculpture, but it did not deter them.

What I’d like to know is why it frightens away the sparrows that I don’t want, and doesn’t bother the “good” birds.

Perhaps it doesn’t matter.

(I’m reminded of a restaurant I patronized long ago which had been plagued by late night thugs who would come in, never order food, make trouble, and never leave. I suggested that they start playing only Grateful Dead music late at night. Believe it or not, it worked like a charm.)