I have enjoyed watching all sorts of birds (but not starlings) using the double-cage suet feeder for years?flickers, bushtits, bewick?s wrens, chickadees, nuthatches... Earlier this spring, I was surprised to look out and see a pileated woodpecker hanging from the bottom of the feeder, trying its best to feed from it?I don?t think it really succeeded, but that?s the first pileated I?ve seen in the yard for some time (since my immediate neighbor cut down their large Doug Firs). When I was using that suet feeder and safflower seeds in the tube feeders, I almost never saw starlings in the yard, or squirrels either for that matter.



Barb Miller

Bellevue, WA

Bmill07 (AT) Comcast (dot) net



From: notcalm at comcast.net [mailto:notcalm at comcast.net]
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 4:54 PM
To: khc at picturesandwords.com
Cc: Tweeters List
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Re: Starling-proof feeders ???



Hello Kristi,



The Flickers, Downy and Hairy WPs all feed at our double cage Suet feeders.



Dan Reiff
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kristi Hein" <khc at picturesandwords.com>
To: "Tweeters List" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2010 6:27:58 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Starling-proof feeders ???

This time of year Starlings will demolish suet, even in the upside-down feeders that are supposed to be Starling-proof. Ours figured those out in no time. They have chicks to feed, and the chicks will soon be out and about and chasing after the parents with their nails-on-blackboard screeches. Starlings (and HOSPs) also will polish off sunflower chips from the "Clingers Only" feeder.

I am thinking of buying the suet feeder, as described by Bob Sundstrom, that screens out Starlings with an outer cage that lets in the chickadees and nuthatches. However, I'm afraid the Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers won't be able to reach into it; they visit ours a lot, and soon their chicks will arrive too. I will probably leave up the upside-down suet feeder outside my office; at least when I'm working, and a Starling alights, I can shake the long-handled feather duster that I keep propped on the windowsill and scare it off.

My husband says we need a "bird recognition" technology that opens up the feeder to the native birds and closes it to introduced pests.

This time only lasts another month or so, anyway.

cheers,

Kristi Hein
Anacortes
khc
at
picturesandwords.com




_______________________________________________ Tweeters mailing list Tweeters at u.washington.edu http://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters