Subject: yellow rumps at suet
Date: Feb 2 11:30:40 1999
From: S. Downes - sdownes at u.washington.edu


Pat and tweeters with similar situation,
I posted a message for help some months ago about getting rid of
starlings. The solution I came up with and boy does it work is:
I bought one of those suet feeders from Wild Birds Unlimited, the one that
has a cage surrounding the suet feeder. Unfortunately it did not take long
before the starlings came in and could poke their necks in and still get
the suet. So I decided to get smarter than the starlings, I bought 1/2"
hardware cloth and fastened it to almost the entire outside area, except
for a inch or so one each side of the suet feeder, i.e. the starlings
could not get to the suet head on. Next I cut out a tuna can both ends and
put the suet cake in the tuna can. Now a bird MUST enter the cage to reach
the suet so starlings cannot get to the suet now. I get lots of Bushtits,
BCCH and no starlings. Every couple of weeks a starlings tries to get at
the suet feeder but can't. So if you have very persistent starlings and
nothing else will work I can guarantee this will work. I have had both
kiglets occassionally, a butterbutt once. Not bad for a apartment deck in
a very urban area of Seattle.

Scott Downes
sdownes at u.washington.edu
Seattle WA

"Birds don't read bird books. (That's why they are seen doing things they
are not supposed to do)." -Mary Wood


On Tue, 2 Feb 1999, Pat Moore wrote:

> I have tried using suet feeders (in Seattle - Ballard) but I am OVERWHELMED
> by starlings whenever I put suet out!