Hi Donna, here is the basic recipe I've come up with, which is a variation of many similar recipes on Sialis.org - 2 cups rendered suet (I use "Simply Suet" from Wild Birds Unltd) 2 cups crunchy peanut butter (I use an all natural brand) 4-5 cups of dried ingreds, combo of Oat flour, corn meal, ww or white flour Tidbits like chopped nuts, hulled sunflower seeds, currants, etc. Dried, sterilized, ground eggshells (optional, don't use these every time) Melt suet in microwave until liquid (it gets hot!). Add PB which melts in the hot suet. Add dried ingredients and tidbits, mixing well. This makes approx. 5 pint sized containers. As it cools, it becomes stiffer and more difficult to stir. At room temp, you can test the final consistency. If it's too sticky, soften in micro and stir in a bit more flour. If it's too "dry", drizzle a spoonful or 2 of vegetable oil and mix, which will make it stickier. The ideal texture is similar to Play-doh - I can squeeze it into balls and stuff the holes on the suet log, and also break it apart into pea-sized nuggets which can be spread in a tray. The Bluebirds prefer the nuggets in the tray, but they will also perch and cling to the log to eat the suet mixture. They are spoiled because if they're hanging out there I will make a special trip out to spread some nuggets. They are the only birds that get special feedings. :) There are now 7 (possibly more) Bluebirds that visit daily as I've seen 5 females at one time and at least 2 males, one of which is banded and one is not. Once in awhile there is a day they are AWOL, such as an unusually warm and balmy and I think they go off to find insects. Many other birds LOVE this stuff too, including Titmice, Chickadees, all the Woodpeckers, Red & White Breast Nuthatches, Sparrows, Juncos, Carolina Wrens, Blue Jays, Cat Birds, Cardinals, HOSPs and EUSTs. The only ones that don't eat it are the Finches - Gold finches, House Finches, and Pine Siskins - they eat the BOSS. Sorry this is so lengthy. Here's a pic of the final mixture -

A little skunk anecdote, which I will call "Summer of the Skunk." Last June a skunk started to visit us regularly (there is a reservation not too far away). This began a summer of almost weekly encounters between our Wheaten Terrier, Nevie, and the striped intruder. Terriers are bred to get rid of small varmints, so the first time the skunk squeezed himself through our fence and into our yard, Nevie headed for the skunk. In no time flat she was back at the door howling, covered with skunk smell. Clueless, we opened the door and brought her in (the number one rule of what NOT to do when your dog gets skunked). We knew right away, and at 11:00 p.m. my husband fled to Walgreens to get the ingredients for all-time-best skunk deoderizer, not to mention several cans of Febreze. Meanwhile the skunk smell had wafted through the entire house in no time, the kids were gagging and whining and when hubbie got home we plunked Neve into the bath. She was grateful. We stank. This happened five times in all during the summer. We attributed the last four times to either stubbornness on Nevie's part in protecting her family, or maybe that she is not the brightest dog in the neighborhood. We tried every natural repellant we could think of, kept the dog in after dark, said prayers and lit candles. We were afraid that maybe the skunk didn't leave at night but hung out under our deck (but we didn't see him and were too afraid to go under there.) The last time the skunk visited was in September, when we had a Danish exchange student staying with us. Her room windows were open when the skunk attacked. It was bad. No matter what we did the smell hung on. Our daughter, who brought our guest to high school with her each day, came home to say that all day teachers were asking if anyone else smelled skunk (?!) A wonderful memory for senior year. I'm sure our guest's report when she got back to Denmark included some mention of skunks. Just when we were about to bring in professional help (for us and to remove the skunk) the skunk stopped visiting. I guess his work here was done. Here's hoping we have no skunk visits this summer, but if we do, at least we've learned some lessons!:)

You are probably correct about the corn and millet but my intended purpose is to photo document as many species of birds as I can. To that end I put out a large variety of foods that will attract all birds, whether they are consodered desirable or not. In fact,as long as I keep the feeders full I see very little actual competion between any of the species. Now I will freely admit that sometimes I have to refill the feeders 2 or 3 times a day and I scatter a considerable amount of seed as well as Bread, orange peels and apples on the ground but I get the apples free and 10 loaves of bread for a dollar, and there is an upside to this method. 1. The Squirrels actually prefer the bread.: . 2. generally the starlings and sparrows prefer to feed on the ground, here again, often preferring the bread to the seed, not to mention that there is a flock of 31 wild turkeys that come in shortly after daylight to get the bread and corn that is left on the ground. Even the Bluejays and Cardinals prefer to feed on the ground and often I see a half a dozen species of birds feeding right alongside a squirrel or chipmonk and on two oc occasions I have seen a groundhog feeding with the birds. Now I am sure that I could get a more selective clientele if I changed the menu but at my house Nobody goes away hungry.

They don't always build their nests in the best places. I had a Carolina wren build a nest in an orchid pot and the weather suddenly became extremely hot. I had to move the orchid into the shade. Either this scared her off or she'd already seen her "mistake" and moved on because no eggs appeared. I agree you shouldn't interfere. If she built the nest in a bad place, well, it's called survival of the fittest. But they'll probably be fine. Babies' mouths are usually wide open.