{"id":8058,"date":"2026-04-11T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/?p=7610729"},"modified":"2026-04-11T18:00:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T01:00:19","slug":"these-are-the-little-thompson-okanagan-birds-eating-all-your-grass-seed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8058\/these-are-the-little-thompson-okanagan-birds-eating-all-your-grass-seed\/","title":{"rendered":"These are the little Thompson-Okanagan birds eating all your grass seed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every spring, massive flocks of white-crowned sparrows swoop into gardens in the Thompson-Okanagan to swipe grass seed and newly planted vegetables on their long migration north, creating a challenge for gardeners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think people understand, it\u2019s not just ten birds in your backyard, it\u2019s more like hundreds that all come in at the same time,\u201d said long-time Kamloops gardener Darlene Doricic. \u201cI\u2019ll look out my kitchen window and see them hanging out, waiting for me to put grass seed down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doricic puts down grass seed every year because her dogs rip up the lawn, but she has learned to wait until after the white-crowned sparrow migration has passed through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve tried everything. I\u2019ve tried hanging sparkly things in the backyard to scare them away and putting the sprinkler on but it doesn\u2019t matter, they\u2019ll literally come in and eat every seed you put down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White-crowned sparrows stop at backyards in waves for roughly four weeks to rest and refuel on their long journey from southern California and Mexico to breeding grounds in the Arctic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also called zebras, after the distinctive white and black stripes on their heads, these native songbirds will hop along the ground, scratch under shrubs and sing while snacking on gardens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kurtis Huston is a bird expert and owner at Wild Birds Unlimited in Kamloops<\/a>. He gets reports from his customers when the first of these native songbirds begin to arrive, and advises holding off on seeding and planting in backyards until the third week of April or the beginning of May to be safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese birds are highly efficient at finding food, travel long distances and rely strongly on our region for refuelling on their journey to the Arctic,\u201d he said, adding that providing the birds with high quality bird seed and water sources is a great way to help them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Doricic waits for the birds to move on before seeding her lawn, she said others who have already seeded theirs often put netting over it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI applaud gardeners that put down netting, I\u2019m not that ambitious,\u201d she said. \u201cSome are already putting winter veggies like peas in the garden so if you\u2019ve done that, you\u2019ll have to put netting down over it too.\u201d  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019ve tried everything. I\u2019ve tried hanging sparkly things in the backyard to scare them away and putting the sprinkler on but it doesn\u2019t matter, they\u2019ll literally come in and eat every seed you put down.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":478,"featured_media":8059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"guid":"","source":"","byline":"","published":"","updated":"","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1680,541,543],"tags":[],"region":[322,323,324,325],"class_list":["post-8058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8058\/these-are-the-little-thompson-okanagan-birds-eating-all-your-grass-seed\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"These are the little Thompson-Okanagan birds eating all your grass seed","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8058\/these-are-the-little-thompson-okanagan-birds-eating-all-your-grass-seed\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8058\/these-are-the-little-thompson-okanagan-birds-eating-all-your-grass-seed\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/inhome-wcs.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/inhome-wcs.jpg"},"articleSection":"Featured","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shannon Ainslie"}],"creator":["Shannon Ainslie"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNhome","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-04-12T01:00:00Z","datePublished":"2026-04-12T01:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-04-12T01:00:19Z"},"rendered":"