Suet, so-what !

[airiscool]

Well it's been several weeks and finally the bacon fat/peanut butter suet ball I made as an experiment to draw in the Starlings is gone.

But not by Starlings !!!

Not one type of bird would even go near it. Guess it's as bad as the rest of my cooking !

Anyway, one of the Gray Squirrels has been nibbling on it for a couple of weeks. Early on he chewed throught the string it was hanging by so it's been on the ground for over a week. The other Squirrels could care less. They just eat the spilled-over bird seed on the ground around it. Yesterday the ball was down to half it's size, this moring it's compleatly gone. Some critter must have dragged it off in the night.

I've also noticed no more Doves during that time either. Started wondering just how bad could that suet be ?

Went out back yesterday and found where another "Dove bomb" had gone off. Only thing left is a circle of bloody, scatched up  snow surrounded by Dove feathers.  Darned Hawks  are not only scaring off the Starlings, but now no more Doves. Even the Bluejays are keeping a low profile too.

Ok, so I tried the dry cat food. Put out a cups worth and all that happened was that two of our four pairs of resident crows made short work of it.

Still not one Starling for weeks now.

And even the Reds are hiding out.

DANG those Hawks, no pests for me to hunt !!!

Paul.

[Bogey]

The hawks and what must be a pair of small falcons have been feasting on the doves at my place too.    I have watched the doves doing every  flying trick they know to escape.   Seems unlikely that either one could fly through the thicket  of trees and bushes and burst out the otherside at full speed.  But they do.   However,  the raptors are only successful a small percentage of  each chase.


I tried a suet cake,  it attracts mainly wood*_*_*_*_*_*s.

[Bogey]

Ths is silly.   Stared out?   There is no hidden meaning.   It is a bird.  What else should it be called?    Woodhammer?  Woodchipper?   Woodtapper? Woodchisel?
Good Grief !!!!     How about..woodpeck bird?   or Peckwood bird?   Or the bird that Pecks Wood?

[dk1677]

I haven't seen any starlings around me, my store bought suit is love by the wood ( you know whats) and the nuthatches . Had 2 grays around but never got a shot off, one at a time they came around the base of the feeder but didn't stay. I guess there was not enough seed there so I added some and oops spilled some hee hee . Did get a sparrow at a little over 25 yards with the RS3, tried for a 2 for 1 but at the angle I only got one of 2

[airiscool]

Cordless drill bird ?  

Just went out the back door and there under the feeder, at the dryed cat food, is a Starling and one above it on the feeder. I did a double take.  

Yup, short tail like Harry said to check for - and these two had  yellow beeks. I very slowly  backed up to get the gun, but  both flew up into a tree. Dang ! I looked where they went and there was a few dozen up there with them, but their backs were all turned toward  me.

As I looked past them at what they were watching I noticed two Crows  a couple hundred feet up dive bombing, trying to drive off a  circling Red Tail Hawk.  The Starlings stayed up in the tree until the Crows and Hawk left, then they all took off in the opposite direction.  

Now, at least I know there's something here the Starlings like. Purina Cat Chow - Complete Formula.

Came back in the house and looked out a window on the other side of the kitchen and there was a Red Squirrel out by the stone wall eating Sunflower seeds. I got into my shed blind , but just as I got the scope on it, it scooted up a tree and was gone. Dang again !!!

Three "almosts".

Paul.

[jake]

thats tinks there gone, i bought peanutbutter flavored suet to try out, but mainly the woodpickers(youknow what i meen lol) and otherlittle finches have been going to it. but no starlings. i also saw a grey chewing at it lol

[atchman2]

When I was prairie dog hunting last summer,whenever I'd see a hawk I would go home.  In Kansas the critters can see them WAY off and they stay underground.

[gamo2hammerli]

It's so freaking cold up here....my suet cake is still hanging on the tree almost untouched....did see a few sparrows peck on it a few times.  The six small birdfeeders I have hanging out back usually needs to get filled every 2nd day.....it's been out there for over a week and there's still almost 1/2 of the seeds left in them.  Guess the other birds don't know about a new food source yet......

[airiscool]

Randy,

".................I'd see a hawk I would go home. In Kansas the critters can see them WAY off and they stay underground.
..............."
 
With all the hills here, which are mostly uneven ridge lines, Hawks and Eagles like the updrafts over the ridges. One farm I hunted Wood Chucks on was "saddled" over one such  ridge line.  I finally learned that when I hear the "scrreeeeee" from overhead, just turn around and go home. Nothing's going to be out there except me and the Hawk.

Paul.

[only1harry]

Paul, did you try to shoot the crows?  The crows are worth a lot more to be than Starlings  

A couple of crows came to eat the dry cat food too, but I did not expect them to be there, so I put the shade up in the morning with my binoculars ready to see if there was any cat food left out there from the night before, and of course there are the 2 crows eating it and naturally 1/2 dozen more in the trees that gave the alarm when I raised the shade so they all took off.  So I blew another chance..  I had kind of given up on them but they were back a few days ago.  They want in on the dry cat food action  This is the 1st year I have not gotten a crow yet, but luckily this year the season was extended another month for crow - until the end of March, so maybe I 'll get lucky in the coming weeks.

[airiscool]

Nope. We've had two pairs of Crows here for quite a few years. They drive off other Crows and Red Tail Hawks. They don't bother anything, or anyone so I've left them alone. Plus, the Girl Friend likes Crows, so one  more reason they are "off limits".

Later yesterday I did notice one of them up in the top of a neighbor's tree with what looks like a bunch of Starlings. Maybe, with the Crows around the Starlings will come in too .... if there's anything left to eat ?!?!

Paul.

[airiscool]

As I suspected, the Crows may be helping bring in Starlings.

Nice Sunny day here with no wind.

I watched a Crow land out by the bird feeder this morning. It walked around for a few minutes looking for more dry cat food. As I continued to watch the Crow a Starling came down near it,.. then another,... and another.  I looked up into a Black Walnut outside the house that they had flown down from and there were about 50 more Starlings way up in the highest branches.

Had to make a Walmart run so on the way out I dumped a couple more cups of cat food by the feeder. All gone by the time we got back, and just one Starling up in the top of the tree. My guess is they've seen the Crows feeding here and they know where the food is.

And, on the way back from Walmart I saw what I thought was a Turkey Vulture circling overhead. We get alot of them around here, but rarely see them in Winter. As we watched it fly closer we saw a flash of white, so I pulled over. It flew closer and we could see it had a white tail ...and a white head. It was a Bald Eagle. With no deep rivers, or large bodies of water around here, it's very rare to see one.

Sure is nice to live in the country !!!!!

Paul.

[atchman2]

See you guys have done it!  This morning I went outside and found my suet feeder on the ground.  I use it for songbirds; not pests.  However it was SWARMED by yellow beaks!  I hold you guys responsible for teaching your starlings and now they have taught TN starlings.

[Mebits]

You can thank me later...

I want you to break my record (I can't remember what it was, 10 or 12 birds in one day? I'll look it up if you get close!).

[only1harry]

That's cool that you saw a Bald Eage Paul.  They are making a comeback in NY but the one you saw could have its nest 20-30 miles away.  They travel long distances.  I saw one about 16-17yrs ago at Lake Placid where we were vacationing one summer.  It was sitting up in a tree for hours.  After I took some pics of the magnificient eagle, I asked the hotel manager to call the DEC just in case the bird is injured or it has a tag - they can look with photo-zoom lenses or maybe identify the bird, because I had read that there were no bald eagle nests in NY back in the 80's.  An hour later a DEC officer arrived with a NY Wildlife bird specialist.  After they took some pics they said they don't think this one is in their archives.  They thought it was from Canada and that it was on its way south looking for a good food source and may even settle if it found everything it needed in the lake (Placid).  They said at the time there were only 3 known bald eagle nests in NY state, but were working on a project to re-populate NY state with a lot more Bald Eagles.  This was in the early-mid 90's.  When I told them it had been sitting there all morning and a good part of the afternoon (about 5hrs without moving), they said that then it was definitely from Canada, because they often rest for hours after a long trip which could be 100-200mi. without stopping.  A couple of years ago a DEC officer told me that Bald Eagles had made a big come back in the past 10yrs, and that their #'s are looking pretty good in NY state.  So I guess their project "eagle" is working.  
 
Last time I saw one was about 4yrs ago 5mi. from my house.  It was up in a tree and my wife thought it was a turkey vulcher too, but I could tell it looked different with that white head, so I turned around and pulled over on the side of the road about 25yds from the tree it was on and I could clearly see it was a Bald Eagle.  Of course we didn't have a camera on us at the time, but I took some pretty good photos of the one in Lake Placid in 1993.  Magnificient birds.