Birdies!!

[Marrowshard]

Our jays are messy pigs at the feeders, they'll dig through all the stuff they don't like and scatter it all over the ground. But they are NOTHING compared to our starlings. Those bastards will attack in groups and drive off anything. The only bird I've seen send them packing was a red-bellied woodpecker who refused to give up his suet cake. He hung upside down and smacked the starlings with his wings until they left him alone.

@DD we do get hummers although not very many (we're horrible about keeping up with the sugar-water). My grandmother used to have 3 feeders on her front porch and they'd get refilled twice a day for all the hummers coming to eat. They all nested nearby and her indoor/outdoor cat learned very quickly to leave those particular shrubs alone ... ruth's right they're devils for fighting back.

~Marrow

 

[ruthcatrin]

We get some starlings, and some house sparrows (speaking of messy eaters), but nothing to bad usually, and we have enough ground feeder birds that the waste isn,t to bad. If I keep a tray of peanuts, filled once or twice a week the jays don't usually bother the rest of the feeders......though they'll still drive off everyone to eat.

 

[Gunny]

For us, sparrows are by far the worst at spilling all the seeds. They look like they're bathing in the feeder and it all goes flying everywhere. We get starlings too but they usually stick to ground feeding on all the seeds the sparrows spill.

 

[Duetsche_Doggen]

Only ruby throated ones. You want to talk about mean buggers though....don't piss off a hummer!

What really???

Our jays are messy pigs at the feeders, they'll dig through all the stuff they don't like and scatter it all over the ground. But they are NOTHING compared to our starlings. Those bastards will attack in groups and drive off anything. The only bird I've seen send them packing was a red-bellied woodpecker who refused to give up his suet cake. He hung upside down and smacked the starlings with his wings until they left him alone.

@DD we do get hummers although not very many (we're horrible about keeping up with the sugar-water). My grandmother used to have 3 feeders on her front porch and they'd get refilled twice a day for all the hummers coming to eat. They all nested nearby and her indoor/outdoor cat learned very quickly to leave those particular shrubs alone ... ruth's right they're devils for fighting back.

~Marrow

Again what???? LOL. They look so harmless and dare I say stinking cute.

Now you both have me curious going to go youtube.

 

[ruthcatrin]

They aren't as 'pissy' in general as a mocker or a jay, but do not piss off a hummer, they know how to use those long pointed beaks!

 

[ruthcatrin]

Oh now today was interesting:

View attachment 13030

That middle bird is a Harris's Sparrow, they're not supposed to be out here on the east coast!

View attachment 13031

And a male House Finch for variety.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Evening Grosbeaks, male and female. I've never actually seen these guys before though they are supposedly common to the area. There were at least 4 males and 6 females on my feeders when I got up this morning.

 

[Gunny]

^ Those are beautiful.

 

[ruthcatrin]

The Grosbeaks? Yah they are, really striking.

At any rate I bet you can guess what I'm doing while hubby watches football...

 

[dpenning]

Great pics Ruth! How many feeders do you have and how far apart are they?

 

[ruthcatrin]

Counting the suet I've 4 feeders. The suet (home made block) is hung on a hook on the front porch, about 8 feet from the front door. The other three are kitty corner by 15ft or so, about 10 feet from the front window. One is a mixed birdseed blend, whatevers cheapest (the red feeder in the pics), one is black oil sunflower seeds, and the tray is whatever I put in it, usually peanuts and more sunflower seeds.

 

[Marrowshard]

I agree, nice grosbeaks We have the rose-breasted ones around here but I don't see the males very often. I admit we've been slacking on keeping the feeders stocked this fall (been a little busy LOL) so I'm not surprised the more uncommon birds haven't come back yet.

~Marrow

 

[ruthcatrin]

Can't imagine why you've been busy!

The Grosbeaks were a huge surprise!

I have to keep the feeders full now! I've got birders lurking trying to catch a glimpse of that Harris's Sparrow who's been around twice now......

 

[Gunny]

We recently moved and have yet to get any birds at our feeders. At our apartment we would get wiped out, but I know it takes some time for them to find the food when it's in a new place. It was always interesting how we would get different species than my parents, who lived about 4-5 miles away.

Ruth, is it easy to make your own suet?

 

[ruthcatrin]

Very.

Mind I don,t know how my recipe would go over in a warmer climate. The birds here love it as soon as it turns chilly, but ignore it come warm weather. But yes, very easy.

50/50 crisco/peanut butter, whatever's cheapest, I buy both in bulk in the winter
A splash of molasses
All melted together on the stovetop.

I pour that into a lasanga pan, and start sprinkling in 'stuff' the. Current one is raisins, shelled sunflower seeds and whole oats, but I've done crushed up stale cereal, marshmellows....whatever catches my eye. In as such quantities as I feel like. But not tones. Maybe 2-3 cups of each per pan

Put the pan in the freezer till set then cut into blocks to fit your feeder. I recommend storing in the freezer as it doesn't take much to melt crisco.


Edit: I found actual beef suet at my grocer this week so I'll be adding that to the mix next time.

 

[Marrowshard]

If I was ambitious about it I'd keep the tallow we carve off the deer every year, but yeah ... probably not going to happen. Awesome recipe, will have to see if hubby's up for experimenting with homemade suet cakes anytime soon. Sounds like fun, but MESSY fun and I'm sure Oscar will volunteer to help with taste testing.

~Marow

 

[ruthcatrin]

It is a bit messy lol, the birds love it though so I'll keep doing it!

 

[ruthcatrin]

Not the most technically great photo, but still cool lol:

 

[Gunny]

Thanks for the recip Ruth. If nothing else, it should work fine here during the winter, but you never know with our crazy weather.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Welcome! I'm TOLD that adding hot peppers to the mix will deter the squirrls but I've never noticed any difference when I do it. The ones you buy in the stores are packed more full of the other "stuff", but I noticed that the birds actually seem to LIKE the peanutbutter/crisco parts. They'll pick that layer off really quickly, and then the rest will go slow.