Christine, Joanne, David, Tweeters:
The subject of suet and starlings comes up every year. I have tried ALL
the store bought feeders and cages during the first year or two that I
started backyard birding, none of them worked. Finally I took the advise
of one Kate Hammill and the "suet- Starling problem" is no more.
First and most important use ONLY PURE WHITE SUET. No peanuts, peanut
butter, seeds, bugs or whatever - birds only want the FAT (that what
suet is). The rest is just filler to cut the manufactures cost down.
Starlings do not like pure white suet, they will eat it of course, but
they tend not to think (for some reason) that it's not worth all the
effort.
Which leads to second important part.... you have to make a feeder that
takes great effort for starlings to get at. The best one I have found is
your basic 3 to 4 inch round, dry log, like a small round piece of
firewood, then you pick up a cheap 1 inch wide drill bit at Home Depot
and drill a few 1 inch holes in it. I put 2 holes on each side and 3 in
the middle. Fill the holes with pure white suet and you are set. Hang it
from a pole or from a tree branch. The birds you want to attract don't
need a landing perch. (if you use a pole you will still need a squirrel
baffle) You still may get a few Starlings that will hover in front of it
picking at a piece or so, but in time they will give up. It just isn't
worth all the effort to them.
The only time I see Starlings now is this time of year when they are
feeding young. They usually only walk around under the suet feeder
looking for big pieces dropped by flickers.
You can get pure white suet at Wildbird stores in tubs and cakes. You
will not find it in any of the big retail outlets or chain stores. It is
worth the extra effort to find it.
Regular visitors to our feeder are: Northern Flickers, Downy and Hairy
Woodpeckers, Bushtits, Black Cap and Chestnut backed Chickadees,
Nuthatches, Warblers, Kinglets,Wrens and on occasion even a Pileated
woodpecker or two has stopped by! We keep it filled even in spring and
summer and the birds use it even more then to feed there young.
If you are interested in a picture of the type of feeder I use, email me
and I can send you a pic.

arthur

agrimes94 at earthlink.net
Edmonds, Wa. 98020