Sparrows eating suet?

17 years ago

I just observed this. A house sparrow hanging on the suet feeder, stuffing his mouth. Then he flew away with some. I have never seen this before.

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Comments (4)

kendra2003
17 years ago
A lot of the commercial suet contains cracked corn, which they love. I make my own suet but still this spring I saw a house sparrow dining on it, so I took the suet feeder down.
rachel_frome_ky
17 years ago
Luckily, we live so far out in the country we don't have House Sparrows or Starlings

Could be taking suet to feed its young
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You might also try a device called Sparrow Free Magic Halo (described in the link below). It's hard to find, but I've had mine up for a couple months and have had a drastic decrease in house sparrows. It's funny to watch them try to decide if it's safe to go near it. I've also changed the feed I use, too, which I'm sure helps. But they were still visiting the feeders before the halo was put up (even w/ the new food), and after the halo has been up, there are only a couple that come back, and they stay on the ground most of the time. Here is a link that might be useful: Magic Halo
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Do tree sparrows eat pure suet?
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here has been a nasty winter with winds ans snow and below zero temps. mixed with some sunny cold days. When it's at it's worst the birds come in flocks and they eat almost everything, I have several cage suet trays and another tub of suet mix on a platform. Even the towhees and juncos and a few of the doves eat suet and suet mixes. I don't get many sparrows but they try the suet too. I rarely se a finch on the suet tray. the woodpeckers and the pesky starlings show up too. The sunny days most stay away but must be close by cause the next bad day they are back in numbers.
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Sparrows eating my finch food (thistle)
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Sparrows are such pests! The only thing that sprang to mind is that I picked up a feeder made specifically for goldfinches (Perky Pet brand I think, yellow top, pretty inexpensive). The slots that birds can get the thistle out of are below the perch instead of above it, because goldfinches can hang upside down and do that, while other birds can't. It has worked here. I still see the occasional bird (but usually a chickadee or finch, not a sparrow) try to use the new feeder, but generally it's the goldfinches who use it. One possible solution anyway - good luck.
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Can I substitute bacon grease for suet in making suet cakes?
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Comments (5)
i have googled use of bacon grease and also bing search and asked about it with a bunch of different audubon societys in different states. the majority of them recomend useing bacon grease as long as the birds have sufficient water supplys. I have used bacon grease for many years and have lots of birds but i do keep fresh water or heated water trays in winter. I usually mix equal parts of suet or lard or bacon grease or tallow or shortning with peanut butter and add some chopped nuts and then thicken it with cornmeal and rolled oats or grits or flour to make a paste. we don't eat a lot of bacon or fatty meats anymore but do save the fats and freeze them. and mix whatever i have on hand into the mix and the bacon grease is usually pretty well diluted down. Most say it attracts the woodpeckers and chickadees and nuthatches but i get almost every kind of bird i get eating mine. including the jays and juncos and finches ect.
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terrene
17 years ago
The house sparrows love the suet/peanut butter mixture that I make, just as much as many native birds, including a pair of Eastern Bluebirds which are nesting in a dead pine snag in the backyard. There were 4 or 5 HOSPs coming around this spring to the suet log, and they were becoming pests and bothering the Bluebirds, so I cut back on feeding suet mixture to only 1x per day in the morning, and the Black oil sunflower seed about once every 2 days.

The Bluebird pair seems okay with less food on the suet log and finds lot of bugs in the yard, gardens, and the sheep pasture across the street. The house sparrows have seemed to disperse, they don't hang around as much because the food's not here all day. Yeah!
tracey_nj6
17 years ago
I have plenty of house sparrows at my suet feeder. Between them and the starlings, there's not much left for the woodpeckers & mockingbirds :(

I've had my suet feeder on a pole for a few years now, and at least the squirrels can't get to it. I did just notice the cardinals showing interest. Had a beautiful male feeding from it last week.

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Sparrows eating suet?

Comments (4)

kendra2003

rachel_frome_ky

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terrene

tracey_nj6

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