On Tue, 2 Feb 1999, John Shelton - ext. 4051 wrote:


> If you laid the suet feeder flat on a table and covered the top and sides
> with wood you'd have it. A couple of rotating clips to hold the feeder
> inside and a chain centered on the back so that it hangs flat. Starlings
> are apparently unable to flip over and hang upside down to feed. Bush Tits,
> Chickadees and Yellow Rumps have no problem. I found that it also prevented
> woodpeckers and sparrows from feeding so I discarded it. I'd rather put up
> with the Starlings than lose my Flickers and Downys.

A cautionary note: My feeder being in a heavily urban enviro. this does
not work. If you have a yard or starlings are not abundant around this
plan may work. The starlings around here are highly adaptable and I have
seen them frequently *hang* upside down. As for putting up with the
Starlings, thats great if you do not have the concentrations. If I let the
starlings at the feeders they will devour a suet cake in one day and the
chickadees and bushtits never get to touch it. A reminder several of those
feeders like the one by Duncraft say Starling resistant, its only as
resistant as your starlings are persistent. I did describe a design
earlier today, however if you want anything bigger than a downy coming to
your feeders this is not for you. The design should probably only be used
as a last ditch solution when starlings just will not give up. If this is
the problem and you do not have the design from earlier today, send me an
email and I'll describe it in further detail.

Scott Downes
sdownes at u.washington.edu
Seattle WA