>I almost always have suet out, and have hordes of bushtits in the winter,
>but have never seen them go near it (and I put out various kinds). Though I
>haven't looked specifically at what they're eating, they flit around on the
>alders, blackberries, and bigleaf maples, mostly. There could be other
>things in there they're eating, such as fireweed, willows, grass seeds ???
> I guess I think they have been coming to this area long before I have been
>here (and noone lived here before me) so probably had their eating patterns
>set. Also an abundance of other food may lead them to not be as interested
>in the suet, though neither of these reasons seems to hold for other species
>(such as chickadees) that mob the feeder along with all their other usual
>eating places.
>
>Teresa Michelsen

I'm glad you responded, Teresa. Sometimes I wonder if I just imagined that
people had suet but no bushtits. I believe they are supposed to be 100%
carnivorous, so what they are eating when you see them on the vegetation
are insects, at this time of year the overwintering stages, which may
comprise eggs most commonly. They are among the birds that are
sufficiently tiny that an insect egg represents a contribution to a meal.
Note how much they hang upside down; this is their way of finding
overwintering stages that are sequestered under the leaves. Chickadees and
kinglets also hang down but perhaps even more get these same critters by
fluttering/jumping up to the underside of a leaf above them. That's why
these tiny birds can winter farther north than warblers, which need big
hunking caterpillars out on the leaves to feed themselves.

As far as time in residence, I doubt if that matters. Probably most
bushtits have had equal access to various kinds of bird feeders, including
suet, over the past few decades. And I don't know about "eating patterns
set." Birds are well-known to be able to adopt new diets that become
available. I imagine suet gives them something (FAT, yum) that is of
special value on cold winter days (although ours also come to it when we
put it out in summer), and it is of equal value to a bushtit or chickadee.
The question still remains, but indeed we should look for their presence at
different types of suet. We don't use suet from the market now; it's
easier to buy it at a bird-food store, and get the kinds mixed with other
goodies (peanuts, seeds, berries, even insects!). But the bushtits came to
our suet when it was just plain fat from the grocery store, too.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416