Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 18:57:20 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Derek C. Richardson" Subject: advice sought: bird feeders in apartment complex In-Reply-To: <76.20bfb2e5.2a8bcd67@aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Hi! I have a Duncraft platform feeder outside my apartment (ground floor) that attracts a variety of birds. I recently received the following message from the management of the apartments: "As a preventative measure regarding pest control, we kindly ask that residents refrain from feeding birds, squirrels or any wildlife on the property." I was hoping to solicit opinions from this knowledgable group about whether this is a reasonable request. Admittedly my feeder is dominated by house sparrows, but titmice, chickadees, house finches, cardinals, mourning doves, and blue jays are regular visitors, and other birds like juncos and mockingbirds (on the ground) happen by now and then. It would be a shame to abandon them. I would argue that the house sparrows could be discouraged by better maintenance (they nest mostly in the building vents whose screens are in bad need of repair). The other birds are hardly what I would call "pests". And the Duncraft model prevents squirrels from taking seeds. Have any other apartment dwellers run into this problem as well? Thanks for your help, Derek -- Derek C. Richardson -- dcr@astro.umd.edu -- dcr_wyvin@yahoo.com Dept of Astronomy, Univ of Maryland, College Park MD 20742-2421 Tel W 301-405-8786 H 301-477-4495 F 301-314-9067 C 240-472-3702 _____ visit my home page @ http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/ _____ ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================