Backyard Birding

There are a wide range of suet feeders on the market, some merely functional, others decorative as well. The one pictured here is our favorite for the obvious reason that it is home made. My husband and the children spent some time going through our woodpile looking for promising branches large enough to drill a large hole through. The hole is one inch in diameter in order to accommodate commercially prepared suet plugs.

Our homemade suet feeder has attracted a variety of birds, including:

1. nuthatches
2. downy woodpeckers
3. hairy woodpeckers
4. red-headed woodpeckers
5. red-bellied woodpeckers
6. orioles
7. northern flickers
8. one hummingbird

I think the hummingbird was inspecting the suet feeder for insects, or perhaps it was just curious. It actually chased off a downy woodpecker in order to investigate further.

We have tried a variety of types of suet in the feeder, including my homemade imitation suet, commercial suet plugs and even suet cakes. We just cut the cakes into bars and push them into the holes. Any of these are messy, but I think it is probably good hand lotion!

We also have a basket suet feeder, but it gets emptied quickly when we fill it because of the sparrows and grackles. Although the sparrows can still eat from our wooden one, they prefer not to and will only feed from it when all the other feeders are empty. Since that is a rare occasion, they leave it alone for the most part. I have only seen the grackles eat from it when they stood on a nearby branch and stretch for it. A little repositioning has prevented that from reoccurring.

If you have not tried offering suet before, it is a wonderful way to attract a number of birds which normally feed on insects. Even bluebirds can be trained to eat from it if you are patient.

suet, birding, backyard birding, bird feeding, bird feeder