About 15-20 years ago when I lived in Vienna, VA the same thing happened in
my yard, except that the victim was a Rock Pigeon. Luckily, I saw it
happen so ran out there and freed the bird. I too used duct tape to fill
the valley between the pole and the curve. It has worked well all these
years, no more trapped birds.

Another danger was from a hopper-style feeder I used that claimed to be
squirrel-proof. The weight of the squirrel...or heavier birds...closed off
the feeder using a spring mechanism. One day while watching the birds out
the window I saw a Cardinal get caught by its leg in the spring mechanism.
Once again it was lucky that I was watching, for I ran out and freed that
bird too. I got rid of that feeder immediately! Similar feeders are still
being sold, but perhaps they have fixed the problem and birds no longer get
caught??? These days I use mostly platform feeders. Simple is better,
imho.

Lori Markoff
Eugene, OR
canyoneagle at comcast.net

On Tue, Sep 29, 2015 at 3:51 PM, Martha Jordan <mj.cygnus at gmail.com> wrote:

> A sad day to look out my window at the hanging array of bird feeders to
> see a band-tailed pigeon hanging dead from the feeder. I use a pole with
> attachments to hang the feeders and suet cake holder from Wild Birds
> Unlimited. It has served me well for more than 15 years with no problems.
> Sometime early this morning the usual group of pigeons must have come
> in, a youngster got its' leg caught in the V between the pole and where the
> hanger curves upward to hold the suet cake. It was indeed a sad sight. I
> have never had this happen in all the years of feeding birds. I now have
> this one area covered over with duct tape to prevent any other birds from a
> similar fate. Has anyone else experienced a bird feeder event like this or
> another so we know where the pitfalls lie to prevent accidents?
>
> Martha Jordan
> Everett, WA
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> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
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>
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