Here is a great answer to the question, “How do I attract a ton of crows / ravens (or any larger birds) to my yard?” This is also some great advice on how to keep squirrels and other pests away from the bird food:

This is brilliant advice, though you might wonder about the cayenne.

Birds are unfazed by capsaicin. This is not true for mammals, as we feel it as heat or pain. This is because peppers have evolved to allow birds to consume their seeds, which pass them unharmed in their waxy capsules.

So, cayenne will burn squirrels, but birds don’t mind it.

You can tell from the combination of comic sans and chemical terms that this was a color plate from a research paper: Capsaicin as Feeding Repellent for Mammals

Capsaicin, the painfully hot feeding deterrent…that we love adding to our food

Source: jansenart

What do you do to attract birds to your yard? Let us know in the comments below!