At the suggestion of several tweeters, we've replaced our fancy suet, laced
with seeds and other goodies, with plain unadulterated suet. As far as we
can tell, all the other birds (chickadees, bushtits, woodpeckers, wrens)
seem to like it, and starling numbers have been much reduced, usually none.
However, today there is an adult starling chowing down on the plain suet,
seeming to relish every bite. I guess it's not the final answer, but it does
seem to help a lot.

I think that food and feeders for birds are under the same kind of marketing
demands that everything else in our society is - make it bigger and fancier
and with more different flavors if you want to keep your market share. I
don't think the birds are particularly impressed, and I think the birding
community should rebel against all the fancy bird-feeding and bird-housing
consumer items being produced for us.

Oops, have to go - a Steller's Jay is knocking on the window because no
peanuts are immediately available.

Dennis Paulson
--
Netta Smith and Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115