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.

I saw my first robin of the year. Spring is almost here. There were times the last few days I thought I saw one but this time its red breast was unmistakable. Yesterday, I saw a pileated woodpecker cross the road and alight on a branch. Across from my house across the street is a tree with many holes it it and I have, also, seen one there. I have also seen red bellied and downy woodpeckers on the same tree. I always keep my eyes open on it expecting to see another pileated woodpecker on it. But not yet.

We did have a new bird come to our suet feeder–an hairy woodpecker. An hairy woodpecker looks just like a downy but bigger. We have seen them before but not recently. We got more snow last night. In fact, it was still snowing when I awoke. Spring is less than two weeks away. We have had snow on the ground for months. We are soon going in a spell (eight days) when it will be in the forties every day and even in the fifties one or two days. I wonder whether all the snow will melt during that period. We will see.

So Far Only One Bird…

Author: siggy

So far only one bird has gone into the cage inclosing the suet cake–a downy woodpecker. I have seen a number of different birds crawl up and down the trunk of the tree the cage is near but that is what the birds are used to–feeding from the trunk. Let us see how long it takes for other birds to crawl inside the cage and eat the suet cake placed there.

Today I saw an hairy and a red bellied woodpecker at the same time travelling up and down on the trunk of our white pine we put a suet cake on. The hairy woodpecker was an unusual visitor. A hairy woodpecker looks just like a downy woodpecker–just bigger. For months we stopped putting out birdseed because a bear visited our property one time too often destroying our gate during one visit. Our dogs were no help: they slept right through all the bear’s visits. My wife once saw the bear standing in the yard at night munching on birdseed on the ground.

It Is A Mystery To Me

Author: siggy

It is a mystery to me when birds come to my feeders.  Sometimes the dogs chase them away.  Other times I don’t know why they don’t come.  There is birdseed there.  I just don’t know.  It is always puzzling to me that I can put out a new suet cake and the birds find it almost right away.  And that is after I have been out for awhile.  The birds provide such pleasure.  In the spring I noted we have quite a few goldfinch.  Sometimes there are so many I see them at two different feeders–the sunflower and thistle feeder.  It always amazes me that one will sit on the thistle feeder for five minutes at a time feeding.  The males are reverting to yellow, again.  We have been having three different kinds of woodpeckers come to eat the suet:  downy, red bellied and now hairy.  The hairy woodpecker has become a regular visitor.  In the past, we hardly ever saw one.  At least one knows about the suet.  The hairy woodpecker is twice the size of the downy.  Though somewhat similar in markings.

An hairy woodpecker came to our suet two times in the last three days.  It is one we don’t see too often.  It is marked just like a downy woodpecker only bigger.  There was no red on its head so it was a female.  Monday I was thrilled:  I not only saw my first robin of the season but also an hairy woodpecker.  At least, one hairy woodpecker is now aware of the suet I put out.

The red bellied woodpecker was back.  When the grackles took over, they disappeared.  After I figured out how to discourage them, the downy woodpeckers returned.  It has been several months since I last saw the larger woodpecker come to feed on my suet cakes.  I could never figure out why they call this bird a red bellied woodpecker.  The red markings are on its head not its belly but in back of their head.  Anyway, I was thrilled to see one today and hope it comes back.

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.

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.

We love the large pine tree outside our living room window, which is the center of attention.  I placed a suet cage right next to its trunk.  There are a steady stream of woodpeckers mostly downy who feed on the suet.  The squirrels also come.

The downy woodpeckers travel up and down its trunk seemingly at attention.  Only one bird is allowed to feed on the suet at one time.  The others make sure of that.  Sometimes there is as much as two or three downy woodpeckers on the trunk of the tree at one time.

Occasionally a red bellied woodpecker makes its entrance.  The sight of it makes me gasp.  It is a bigger woodpecker with an one inch red stripe that goes from the back of the top of its head to its nape of its neck (at least the male looks that way).  I had never seen one before and now they are regular visitors.

The white breasted nuthatch also likes the suet as well as the Carolina wrens who I have fallen in love with.  I did not know wrens could get that big.  Occasionally a cardinal will alight on one of its branches briefly.

We get occasional visits by the brown creeper who has a long curved beak and is a small brown colored bird who appropriately creeps up and down the pine’s trunk.  And these are only the birds we remember seeing.

This year a large branch was brought down by an ice storm which became our Christmas tree when I cut off part of it.  We used the rest of it for our tree.  It was one of the most beautiful trees we ever had lit up by several hundred multicolored lights.  Both of us love this tree and consider it to be our friend.

There were lots of birds feeding in my yard in this storm.  I sprinkled some birdseed two and an half hours ago on the snow.  I counted about a dozen slate cover juncos feeding on the ground (my friend calls them appropriately snow birds).

I saw as many as three downy woodpeckers on the trunk of my large white pine tree at one time.  They do take turns feeding on the suet.  And of course there were the squirrels.  I did see “stumpy” a squirrel who is missing part of his tail.

A female cardinal made its appearance briefly.  And there was the occasional Carolina wren.  A little later I will toss a little more bird seed on the ground.  I do not want to waste any.

There still is some sunflower seeds on our porch not covered by snow.  The birds keep coming.  And I have my eyes open for any unusual visitors.