I sympathise with you Arthur. I am constantly at war with squirrels that poiintlessly dig things up in my garden.

Here is something you could try. Get some rabbit wire and place it over your pots - a pain, but should stop birds in their tracks. Wrap your pot with a strip of rabbit wire, I would cut the strip 2 feet wide. Wrap the strip around the outside of the pot, Secure to the pot around the rim. Your wire will now stick up like a collar. Bend the wire towards the plant.