Red headed house finches are stripping my apricot flowers!
Here is my Sugar Pearls apricot tree two days ago:
That stinks! But think of it as natures way of thinning 
Hang some blank CDs and bird flashing tapes to protect your fruit tree.
Yes had birds stealing tomato stems for a nest once! I hung up aluminum pie pans around on sticks and strings. The birds monitored the garden edge for days but the wind was on my side blowing like crazy so the pans scared them away.
I’ve had finches eat the apricot flower buds in winter after a really heavy snow. Your birds may be short on food sources.
I think they’re pecking my nectarine buds
Actually, my next door neighbor is quite the animal lover and has an extensive array of bird feeders. I think they enjoy a main course at her feeders, then hop over the fence for dessert from my trees.
There’s a starling nesting in my neighbor’s eve that sits on the electric line and imitates red tailed hawk calls, learned how to impersonate the cat as well, good bird!
Just noticed this happening on my Nanking cherries today! House finches have been pulling off flowers one-by-one (baby fruit and all), biting the base, and then dropping them. I’m guessing to get the nectar. I came to this forum to see if anyone had experienced it before. Did the scare-crow work for you?
I have never seen House Finches doing that before. I am not sure if this is a normal occurrence or just an oddity. Interesting to see other peoples responses here.
When my grandfather still had his sailboat, he would keep the birds from shitting all over it by stringing up nylon fishing line strategically to block where they would like to perch. Flying into invisible wire will scare the birds far more than reflective tape.
We also used aluminum pie tins tied to stakes to deter birds in our gardens.
I just saw them doing this the other day on a neighbor’s tree. It’s absolutely crazy, why are they doing this? There were a few birds sitting on a branch and methodically picking off flowers and instantly dropping them. Then they move and repeat. I was very much at a loss of words.
We just had a hard Winter. Deer are being unkind to my yard.
A few years ago House Finches were doing the same thing to a large sweet cherry tree. They were eating the nectaries in the flower and did that for a few years but then stopped when there were fewer of them around (part of a general reduction in songbird numbers in our area). I haven’t had that problem since then until this year; however, now it is some variety of sparrow that is doing a number on my sour cherry tree. It was the worst loss of flowers that I have seen, but the tree was loaded with flowers and a reasonable number seem to have survived. I may still have a decent crop.
They’ve been doing that to my plum flowers as well
Does the wings move? Looks like it possibly has a contraption to move the wings via wind
