i am fairly new to birdwatching, but found it goes hand in hand with my obsessive gardening. i have a couple of simple suet feeders attached to a small oak tree about fifteen feet from my patio window and to date, i have a downy woodpecker,a pair of northern flickers and a pair of pileated woodpeckers. there is a rotting telephone pole along the road directly in front of my patio which i can see perfectly from my chair with binoculars. i see them all on it at some point during any given day. i think the flickers are nesting in there. i was sitting out having my morning coffee a few weeks ago when this huge black bird came to my suet feeder. at first i thought it was a pesky crow,and i was about to chase it off, but then i saw the white and red head and sat back down. i couldn't believe it;(i nearly soiled myself lol) right in front of me! now i see them frequently- they love suet. you cannot miss them if you use your ears; they have the loudest cackle around.

Hi ribs1, It's a gazebo style feeder, made of metal or aluminum most-likely that I bought at Menards. I feed strictly hulled sunflower seeds, albeit they are very expensive, but there is no waste whatsoever. I also have a suet feeder underneath and about 5' away from it, that I built, and holds two blocks. So far the Red-headed haven't ventured to it, but I bet they will, given enough time. Dax

Thanks guys!! Konrad, I like to think I am doing something right. I have bluebirds that just fledged from 1 nestbox, I have TRES in 2 of the boxes and I have an oriole nest hanging from a tree 10 feet from my deck. It must be the same oriole from last year. She built the nest on the same branch only a little higher up this year. I have 4 robin nests in the pine trees in my yard and 2 cardinal nests. I think having a pond and stream helps attract birds. The orioles are sneaky builders. Last year I never saw her building, but I got to watch the parents feed the babies. I missed them fledging. This year she built the nest and I missed it again. The parents are feeding babies, I hope I get to see them fledge. I did get to see 5 of the 6 bluebirds fledge, must have missed the first 1. Anyway, I sure am gonna keep an eye out for the pileated to bring the babies to the suet. Karen

the block cage is the one for the molded woodpecker blocks the other are the square suet cages. When i make my mix i use some peanut butter and thicken the suet mix with cornmeal or rolled oats and mixed bird seed and when the fats harden up enough to spoon into the metal cage and i press it down to fill the block. and if it's not hardened enough i stick it in the freezer for awhile before i put it out. the others i use sorghum or molasses and peanut butter in summer instead of fats and they are gummy enough to hold together too. but i also used the plastic trays from old suet blocks or the halfs of the plastic trays that raspbpberrys or blackberrys come in and put them in the suet cages if the mix is not thick or gummy enough