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Which birds love suet?

15 years ago

Hi my name is Ann I live in Southern Utah. I just found this fourm. I am usually on the plant fourms. I have been wondering which birds in the southern part of Ut. eat suet. Last year my husband really got into feeding the birds so we have feeders and started planting for them I would like to encourgae suet eating birds but I am not sure if we have any in my part of the state. Is there a certain way they like the feeder to be hung, placed on the trunk? If anyone has any ideas or if there might be someone in my neck of the woods I love hear how I might encourage these birds Thanks

Ann in So. Ut

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Comments (2)

donald lucius
15 years ago
i live in south west colorado near Durango. My back yard is pinyon and juniper trees and oak brush with native grasses and some shrubs. I don't put out suet trays or raw suet till the winter storms start. the more it snows and blows the more winter birds i get. Mostly juncos with some chickadees and nuthatches. a few towhees and sparrows in winter along with woodpeckers and a few finches.
two familys of jays year around with some magpies and starlings and summer oeioles and red wing blackbirds.
I started with the metal cages nailed to sides of trees but the towhees and juncos tried but had little success eating from them but the hanging types such as woodpecker and chickadees and nuthatches liked them so i hung a block of wood with a large deep lid on the block to make a platform feeder so the towhees and juncos and the ground feeders could perch either on the sides of the lid or in it to eat. i make up my own suet mixes according to what i have on hand. usually lard or shortning or leftover cooking oils from the deep fryer or from cooking meats ect.
i soften it in the microwave just enough to mix in the meat scraps and oats with nuts or dried fruits and berrys and thicken it with cornmeal or grits and laddle it into the plastic trays that raspberrys or blueberrys or other berrys come in from the grocery stores. put the plastic trays in the cages and hang the cages from the limbs. usually close to another limb that the birds can perch on to eat from the cages. If the starlings try to take over the suet trays i hang them away from other limbs so the birds have to hang onto the cages to eat. I scare off the starlings everytime i see them by tapping on the window
jannd
15 years ago
Woodpeckers, chickadees and nuthatches are the biggest fans of suet feeders. Hanging an inexpensive metal basket (easy to get at any Petco or Target)with the commercially available suet cakes (also Petco or Target)will likely draw birds if hung on a branch or a shepherd's hook about 5' off the ground. Nearby trees, shrubs, or woodpiles help birds feel like they have a safe retreat, so locate your feeders accordingly. Also, have fresh water out for them (I just fill a terra cotta saucer) and you'll draw more visitors. Good luck!
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Tony, I'm with you. I have never had any luck with suet of any type or recipe in Florida. I DO think you are more likely to succeed with it in cooler weather because the birds need a much higher energy type food then. And also because many types of suet cakes and mixtures spoil quickly in the heat. But even in winter, my woodpeckers prefer to eat sunflower seeds directly from the tray feeder, and they ALL ignore the suet. I do buy the big SEED cakes (BirdOla, etc) that just look like lots of seeds, peanuts and fruit somehow molded into a large square. You probably know what I mean...there's no suet that you can see, just the seeds & fruit bits. I put that in a wire holder designed just for it, and the goldfinches will eat from that, until it gets too small for their short beaks to reach it through the wire. They still drop shells and a little bit of seed under the feeder, but they can't fling it all over while looking for something they like, so it's much less messy. My goldfinches finally showed up about 3 weeks ago, and I've had as many as 30 in the yard at once. There are at least 4 that are almost completely yellow and black now. Just gorgeous. I haven't seen any buntings or grosbeaks this year, though. And the chipping sparrows left right when the goldfinches showed up. But I'm happy...I have my cardinals back, my white-winged doves are here, and my goldfinches. My seed-eating catbird and my seed-eating Myrtle warbler both left, after stuffing themselves for several weeks. (They obviously didn't get the memo telling them they prefer insects and fruit.) I'm really happy now that the squirrels can't seem to reach the feeders any more. (Still knocking wood, though.) Try one of the big seed cakes and see if you like it! Marcia
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This winter is the 6th winter I've been feeding a small flock of Bluebirds a home-made suet or lard mixture. I melt the fat in a glass bowl in the micro, and then add peanut butter, nuts, flour, corn meal, ground eggshells, etc. The birds love it but the best thing is that it attracts the Bluebirds! If the Bluebirds show up, they get special feedings - I call them my "Boosies" and ask them if they want some "nuggies". (Yes, very silly.) This year there are more Bluebirds coming than any previous year. Some days only 4 will show up, but other days it looks like approx. a dozen. It's hard to tell exactly how many since they are swooping and flying around and perching on several different canopy trees and my bird-watching skills just aren't good enough yet.
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I feed 2 types of suet or lard - the plain raw beef suet in a suet cage, and a home-made mixture of rendered fat (suet or lard) with peanut butter, corn meal and flour, nuts, etc. Rendered suet stays solid at higher temperatures - I think it's in the 90s F - than unrendered suet. I do feed the raw suet year round and it doesn't melt because we don't get temps in the 90s that often, and also the suet cage is sited on the north side of a large tree trunk so it has little sun exposure. The woodpeckers love the raw suet but many other birds will nibble on it too. Many birds also love the home-made mixture, and the Bluebirds come every winter to eat nuggets. This past winter I had up to 12 bluebirds! But I feed much less of all the bird food in the summer because there are usually plenty of insects for them to eat.
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I have an excellent book which someone gave me called "The Audubon Backyard Birdwatcher Birdfeeders and bird Gardens" by Robert Burton & Stephen W. Kress, published by the Audubon Society on Thunder Bay Press. (ISBN 1-57145-186-2) Not only does this book have excellent pictures of birds, it has dozens of plans on how to make bird feeders, nesting boxes, bird baths and how to plant a landscape garden to attract birds. There is one whole chapter devoted to bird feeds and what birds they will attract. In addition to the common seeds and suet mixes they have a long list of table scraps that are great for attracting birds. They suggest making a wire cage and put your meat scraps in it, especially the fats that your trim off cooked hams or beef in addition to ham bones, beef marrow bones and even teh leftover turkey bones. A few other things that i found interesting was cooked spaghetti, cooked rice, uncooked pastry dough, baked potatoes with the skin on and stale cheese. Out of curiosity I baked a potato in the microwave, then sliced it in half and put it on my shelf feeder. It was a big hit with all the birds. Another thing that the birds here seem to like is orange peels. I saw a Blue jay pick up and orange peel that was 1/4 of the orange and fly off with it. If anyone is looking for a great how to book on building bird feeders or bird houses or making their own bird feeds I would highly recommend this one, especially if you are making bird feed because I am a bit skeptical of the health concerns for the birds when i read the recommendations of some books, but I don't think the Audubon Society would steer us wrong.
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