Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

Last Christmas my wife bought me two caged suet feeders. They paid for themselves. I would go, sometimes, through one suet cake a day. Usually in two or three days I had to put up another. Now it is weeks, sometimes a month or two that before I have to put up another suet cake. I did not realize how much the squirrels were eating. Until now.

The second suet cage I hung from a stake and can be viewed from our bathroom window. There is a tree nearby and my wife said recently she saw five birds on that tree each taking a turn feeding on the suet. The birds definitely know about the suet outside the bathroom window.

The other cage is hung up near the trunk of the large white pine which can be viewed outside our large living room window. The holes in that cage are a little bigger so a larger woodpecker like the red bellied woodpecker can reach the suet inside. Not just the downy woodpecker. I really am thrilled with this unexpected gift from my wife.

In addition to the woodpeckers the suet attracts white breasted nuthache, titmouse and an occasional chickadee and sometimes other birds like the brown creeper.

Tags: brown creeper, chickadee, downy woodpecker, red bellied woodpecker, squirrels eating my suet, the caged suet feeders
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In a short time–twenty seconds–I saw a Carolina wren, a brown creeper, the ubiquitous titmouse and a red bellied woodpecker–all from my window.  They were feeding on the birdseed I put out on the ground plus the suet cake placed next to the trunk of my large white pine tree.  The woodpecker took a chunk of fat from the suet cake and disappeared.  I could never understand why it is called a red bellied woodpecker.  The red is on its head not its belly.  It is a big magnificent woodpecker I never saw before I started putting out suet cakes regularly.

The small sized downy woodpeckers are more frequent visitors than the red bellied woodpeckers.  Sometimes you can see two or three downy woodpeckers at one time although they maintain their space between each other.  They march up and down the pine tree stiffly like they are at attention.  The Carolina wren is a big wren as far as wrens goes–maybe the biggest and feeds on the ground as well at the suet.

The brown creeper is a nondescript little brown bird with a curved beak that does just that creep up and down the trunk of the pine tree.  It occasionally can be found on the ground but usually is found on the trunk of the tree going up and down the tree.  Of the four birds, it comes here the least.  These birds mentioned can be found here all year around.

Every once in awhile I spot a new bird and become excited.  The latest was a red-cockaded woodpecker that came every day for a few days although I saw no red on it.  It took several visits before I could make a positive identification.  It is a midsized woodpecker between the size of a downy and red bellied woodpecker.  I had never seen one before.  Watching birds from my large living room window gives me much pleasure.

Tags: bird feeding, bird seed, bird-watching, birds, brown creeper, Carolina wren, downy woodpecker, large window, red bellied woodpecker, red-cockaded woodpecker, suet cake, titmouse, white pine tree, woodpeckers
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The grackles are scaring the other birds away in my front yard.  I had to stop putting out suet cakes.  The grackles liked them too much.  And the woodpeckers (red bellied and downy) stopped coming.  And other birds attracted to the suet.  Like the brown creeper and white breasted nuthatch.  More than once I saw a grackle take a bite of suet and go back to grab another and they still had not swallowed the first bite which was still hanging from their beak.  I did not know how to discourage them.  I know they are God’s creatures.

I wish they would go away.  Nevertheless they knew a good thing when they saw it.  They also would feed on the bird seed I scattered on the ground.  I did not mind them sharing the suet cakes with the woodpeckers but they chased them away.  I was going through at least one cake a day.  They are almost a dollar at WalMart.  Even with no suet cakes being put out they are still coming although not as many.  I just don’t know what to do.  I miss the suet feeding birds I used to see regularly from my front window.

Tags: bird feeding, bird seed, bird-watching, birds, brown creeper, downy woodpecker, front window, God, God's creatures, grackles, red bellied woodpecker, suet cakes, white-breasted nuthatch, woodpeckers, yard
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I make sure my two large bird house totems face outward, one on each side of my front door.  I want the birds in my neighborhood to feel welcome.  There are a multitude of birds that come to our five feeders, which I keep well supplied with anything from sunflower seed to thistle to suet and when the warm weather arrives I put out nectar I make especially for the hummingbirds.  That does not even include the birdseed I scatter on the ground for the birds who prefer to feed there.

Last year there were three birds nesting in our vicinity.  An eastern phoebe built a nest above the right front door light although there might have been too much traffic there for her to be successful in raising her young.  A nest was built there two years in a row.

A scarlet tanager raised a family in a bird box stationed at a large white pine a foot higher feet than my head less than an hundred feet away from our entrance although I never spotted the brightly colored male.  I had never seen one before.

A catbird made a nest in the thicket of one gigantic bush in the corner of our yard.  One of our cats found the nest and flushed the young catbird out of the bush and we shooed the cat away immediately.  The frightened baby bird hopped into the open garage chirping in fright.  My son who happened to be at my house first had to move a table and a filing cabinet out of the garage to reach the scared little bird who had hopped deep into the cluttered garage.  He trapped the baby bird carefully scooped up into a little box without touching it and safely released it back into the overgrown bush where its nest lay.

I want all the birds in our neighborhood to know they are welcome to visit our premises and raise their young.  Every day I watch them come to and fro our feeders.  Soon I will put out nectar for our hummingbird feeders and watch the miniature “helicopters” come back and forth and jostle for position at their feeders.  We will have one feeder at the window just so we can watch them closeup.

There is such a variety of birds that come to our feeders.  The magnificent ten inch long red bellied woodpecker with its gorgeously marked red head occasionally feeds on our suet feeder (which I have placed right next to the trunk of the large white pine tree) and there is his companion–the smaller downy woodpecker which stands at attention as it climbs up and down the trunk of the same tree also feeding on the suet.  Then there is the diminutive brown creeper who is aptly named who also feeds on the suet and my favorite–the fearless chickadee whose antics I always love watching.

This is, of course, an incomplete list.  I want them all to feel welcome and the birds continue to come here in a constant stream.  I joyously greet them each morning and watch them all day and never know when an odd bird makes its appearance like the indigo buntings that seem to come through here once or twice a year in flocks.  I never know for sure what I will see outside my window.  I want the birds to always feel welcome.

Tags: baby bird, bird house totems, bird migration, bird nest, bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, birds are welcome, birdseed, brown creeper, catbird, cats, chickadee, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, hummingbird feeders, hummingbirds, indigo bunting, my son, nectar, pets, red bellied woodpecker, scarlet tanager, suet, sunflower seed, thistle, white pine tree, woodpecker
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The dawn is only an hour away.  I can not wait to see the first chickadees come to my feeders.  They never fail to delight me.  I am always thrilled by the magnificent red-bellied woodpeckers who come to feed on the suet I have put out near the trunk of the large pine tree outside my large living room window.

The downy woodpeckers come during the day.  They seem to stand at attention as they feed and go around the trunk of the tree.  The occasional cardinals who feed on the ground are very wary.  The beautiful bright red male cardinal never fails to delight me, too.

Every once in awhile I see a brown creeper.  And the many goldfinch who love the thistle I put out for them.  They will sit at the feeder for five minutes eating the thistle.  Often there will be a dozen feeding on the ground.  I can not wait for the males to turn yellow again.  Before, I rarely saw them.  Now they have become commonplace.  Maybe, now I take them for granted.  The slate covered junco come in flocks and might have gone away.

These are the more common birds I see out of my window every day but I never know when I will be surprised.  I am waiting to see if I see any flocks of indigo buntings.  They are such beautiful birds who I only see a few times a year.

There are also the piliated woodpeckers.  I usually hear them not see them.  Their wild cackle is unmistakable and when I am lucky I actually spot one with its large long red crown.  It is such an exotic looking bird over a foot long.  I never forgot the first one I spotted outside my house.  I had to run into the house to grab my binoculars to get a good look at it.  It was over a hundred feet away perched on a stump.  I absolutely love birds.  I have all my life.  I guess you got that idea.

Tags: beautiful birds, binoculars, bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, brown creeper, cardinals, chickadees, dawn, downy woodpeckers, exotic looking bird, God, goldfinch, I love birds, indigo buntings, my backyard, nature, piliated woodpeckers, red bellied woodpeckers, slate covered junco, suet, thistle, wild cackle
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