Subject: [Tweeters] Winter feeding..
Date: Nov 16 10:00:46 2015
From: Sammy Catiis - hikersammy at msn.com


When I was active with The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, about 30 plus years ago.. and on the education board of a chapter of Audubon, we worked on several missions. One was to illuminate through education, of red plastic pieces (insulators) on electric fences.. since so many hummingbirds would short themselves out. I don't see this even being a subject the last 20 years.. why? I still see the red insulators? Maybe not as many..

The other thing.. and this is relevant to today.. is the Suet we put up in the Winter (or year round). I still, at the store, educate so many people on this. Only buy the Suet that has shelled peanuts or is a blend of shelled nuts/peppers/fruit.. it's all OK really.. here is the problem. MOST ALL of the Suet, has millet and other WHOLE seeds. It was scientifically proven that the birds that were eating the suet were getting NO BENEFIT from the seeds that were in the suet.. they were not digesting. WHY? The suet makes it slippery and they cannot crack the seed, therefore eating them whole. We all watch the diligent birds crack even the littlest of seeds.. they could not do this if covered by grease. So they just poop out whole seeds.. getting no benefit and you wasting your money on food they really are not benefitting so much from. If you look, you can get Peanut or ground type suet.. where there is no whole shelled seeds. I do wonder why this dropped off the radar as it seems more popular than ever to feed these mixed seed suet.

So, been thinking about this a lot lately as I try to educate those that happen to be there buying at the same time as me. I would love to find a more accessible place to get the insect ones. Anyway, next time you load up on Suet, think about what is in it. So, going on the studies done before.. unless some scientist has proven otherwise.. something to think about and start educating about. This is just the group to do it too I figure.

Basically, I look for Millet.. if that is in there, I don't get it. Or if you can see whole sunflowers. You know they can't break them open if they are slippery.

OK, got this off my chest finally..

Have a good day..
Sammy
Arlington