birds eating my bean plants

I have been astonished this year to find birds eating my bean plants.  The next door neighbor has a huge garden ..untouched by the birds..all done in neat rows with her veggies waving  on either side of black dirt paths; my little patch of beans are mixed up with tomatoes and corn and marigolds and I maybe have a dozen plants left.  I didn't know what was doing them in until I caught a bird in the act but even some of the ones it hasn't yet completely denuded it has taken off the growing tip. These aren't just bean seeds the plants that are anywhere from 2-10 inches have been eaten. I don't know what sort of bird it is..it isn't very big, looks something like a robin (but isn't). It has knocked over some tomato plants but seems not to have touched the young corn, which seems weird.  (yet...  maybe when it finishes off my beans )

Anyone else had this problem? Suggestions?

Maybe a row cover for a few days to see if it might lose interest?

As for it not eating your neighbors, that bird just knows where the good stuff is!

There is no other way than netting. Birds are smart and they know that shiny CD's are shiny CD's and a scarecrow is a scarecrow and a false hawk wouldn't do it either.

Bird netting will not work for all birds.  Last year I had encircled some seedlings with chicken wire to keep the cat out of the new "sandbox" he knew I had made for him.  One day I noticed a tiny bird sitting on a tomato plant.  When I approached, he flew through the chicken wire!

This year sparrows have decimated my French climbing beans, had a few begonias leaves and flowers and are now started started on my runner beans .In all cases I have caught them in the act!
I wonder if it is because it has been so dry but they have a bird bath and a dog bowl full of water and where they tank up. Frankly I am despairing but final hope is that I have put silver bands up to deter them but I'm not very hopeful.
In future I'll be cheering for the sparrow hawk when she visits.

Eileen, welcome to the forum!

Where I live we are in a drought.

All sorts of wildlife are going after anything green.

Even though you furnish water, the birds still need food.

I do not know any remedy other than bird netting or furnishing them a bird feeder which may not help and might just attract more birds to your beans.

I just had this happen to me as well.  My common beans were about 8" tall & growing beautifully.  Something has eaten all of the plants down to the bare stem & I even noticed some of my watermelon plants had the growing tips snipped off.  It doesn't seem to matter if they were protected from sight by other plants or out in the open.  Between the rodents & birds, I've lost a lot of growing time, seeds, seedlings, & now they are damaging mature plants.  I was counting on the legumes for nitrogen fixation for my corn too.  I know this stuff happens, but to lose so much on a small garden with too short of a season to replant can be frustrating.

Cy, sorry this happened to you, too.

Cy said, "I was counting on the legumes for nitrogen fixation for my corn too.

Maybe I am wrong though I thought nitrogen fixing happened underground so those plants are still working for that.

Just continue to water them so the plants don't die.

Anne,

Yes, you are correct.  The nitrogen fixation does happen in the root section, so I'm hoping they'll pull through.

In one of my past gardens in a different locale, I had rabbits strip my beans down in one night.  They eventually came back enough to produce a little, but nowhere near what they would have.  

In this case, I have watched a few bean plants here and there get eaten, and I just chalked it up to acceptable losses.  Instead, they continued getting eaten from the leaves down to the ground.  This past weekend, all of my common beans except the lentils were eaten down to the stem with no leaves left.  I am most interested in the roots of this crop for nitrogen fixation, but any beans would've been a nice bonus.  I'll keep watering them to see what happens.

If they are sparrows, then put out mouse traps. Kill a few to make compost, and the rest get the message really fast. They are surprisingly smart birds.

I don't have a solution as critters that burrow ate all the peas and beans (and squash) I had planted next to some pickling cukes. Only ate one of those bitter plants, however this makes me wonder if it's not little birds that are eating the flowers off my tomatoes. 26 tomato plants this year and I doubt I will get enough to do anything other than fresh salsa a few times...

I'm also in the drought.  Also having problems with birds for the first time ever.

Mostly they've been after my lettuce, and strangely my tomatoes when they were still small.

Here's a solution that worked on small plants:  old USPS containers.  My mail carrier brought me several that were old and manky and being pulled out of circulation.  They make perfect mini-greenhouses to keep birds off until the plants get big enough to fend for themselves.

Growing up, we always had problems with robins eating young tomato plants.  Our solution that worked very well was to go to the dollar store or any place that sells cheap kids toys, and buy 4 or 5 rubber/plastic snakes to place around the garden.  It worked every time to keep them out.  It helps to move them around the garden from time to time to keep them from getting too brave.  Guess I'll have to go buy some myself.  If it doesn't work, well then I suppose birds aren't my problem.

Edited to add:  This morning, I noticed something had nibbled on one of my young watermelon fruits.  I just checked it again this afternoon and almost half of the rind is chewed.  I checked on my neighbors pumpkins since their plot was 3 sisters and has been left to fend for itself.  Many pumpkins had been eaten as well.  There really is no other water source there, so that may be the reason.  Should I put out a low water vessel to keep from losing my watermelons?  It seems like any edibles I produce will be hard won this year...

I've got 3 water sources in my yard for wildlife and I do think it helps with plant damage control, at least for the part that would be moisture seeking.   I've got a wide shallow feed ban set up as a birth bath on a couple blocks with a rock in the middle,    a deeper small sunken container pond with a floating solar "fountain" in it, and a round copper baking dish in another corner of the yard.   All are down 30-50% every morning and different groups of birds move through during the day.   5pm seems to be "happy hour" at the bird bath lol.    The only bird damage I get is the gold finches moving in on my sunflowers but I don't mind.  Chipmunks are a HUGE pain with grabbing unripe fruit;  somehow I have to address that.  Or maybe when my fruiting trees and shrubs get bigger and more productive there will be enough for all of us.  

I like Cy's suggestion about buying the rubber snakes.

I have never been big on using bird netting, especially on beans.

Bird netting is a lot of work to put it on then take it off to havest the beans, etd.