Fun With A Predator Call

Years ago, I bought one of those electronic predator calls. It has five different sounds: wounded cottontail, injured jackrabbit, coyote howls, coyote pups, and mule deer fawn. Never did get around to using it for hunting, but recently I just found a new use for it! For years I've had several bird feeders hanging in my apricot tree that I watch from my kitchen window. Over the years I have enjoyed black-capped chickadees, American goldfinch, downy and hairy woodpeckers, northern flickers, house finch, house sparrows, Western scrub jays, scarlet tanagers, and many other birds. But recently my feeders have been overcome by hungry, greedy European starlings. These birds arrive in huge flocks and they intimidate and scare away all the other birds. Plus, they eat up my feed so fast, I have to keep buying it more often. The other day I came up with the answer: I tied the speaker part of the predator call to the tree, under a limb where it can barely be seen. When the starlings arrive, as soon as they start eating, I press a button on the handy-dandy remote and they can't get away fast enough! The coyote howls work the best.