#2 - Never had to deal with birds when growing in-house

[voyager]

I've had buds going missing from the spikes of some of my outdoor orchids.
I first noticed orchid flower buds disappearing from flower spikes on a pretty yellow/brown flowered Onc. Sweet Sugar last summer.
It had been stripped of buds and never flowered from that spike. Since then I've noted that many of my Oncidium/Odontoglossum types end up missing at least a few to many buds from their spikes. I assumed it was the ants that were affecting some of the others of my outdoor orchids.

While speaking with my main orchid pusher today, I mentioned about the buds disappearing. He says it's the birds eating them. The birds, shades of Alfred Hitchcock.
He says that my good buddy, the Red Cardinal, is probably the worst offender. I feel as if a con has been run on me. I liked that guy. I noted that he did eat the ornamental bananas from my Zabrinas, and I did watch that he was not getting into my apple and ice cream bananas.
There is little doubt that he is not the only offender eating my orchid buds.
How can I protect my orchids without sitting out there with a shotgun?