Here in Canada the suet feeders are usually used in the winter when the snow and cold comes and the birds need extra energy to keep warm and natural feed is hard to come by. I also feed shelled peanuts, shelled black oil sunflower seeds and peanuts in the shell for the blue jays. I find that the shelled black oil sunflower seeds are really enjoyed by finches of all kinds, chickadees, jays, just about every bird likes it and there is no mess with shells or waste. When I used to feed the BOSS with the shells, I found the finches dumped more on the ground than they ate because they seemed to be looking for smaller seeds. Now every scrap is eaten. I'm really not that familiar with what birds would eat in the south, but I do think that because you are in a warm part of the country, suet is probably not really a favorite of birds. It just seems to be a cold-weather thing, at least here in Saskatchewan.

I have found that the woodpeckers, flickers and nuthatches rarely visit the suet feeders over the summer but once temperatures start to cool off they begin to show up regularly. I just use the cakes and plugs available in the local grocery store. I use straight BOSS(Black Oil Sunflower Seed) in the other feeders and get very few House Sparrows. The Eurasian Collared Doves stick to picking off the ground.

Thanks for the information. I'll wait until winter arrives here (if you can call it winter with our usual warmer temps) and then try suet again. May also drop the mixed feed strategy and try just the BOSS seeds to see what happens.
I also have the Eurasian Doves but rarely see them off the feeder or out of the tree limbs. In addition, they're rather aggressive toward the Mourning and White Wing Doves that also visit, possibly because of their much larger size.
Thanks again.
Steve

I've found some brands of pre-made suet blocks to be significantly more popular than others; Morning Song year round suet is liked far more than Blain's Farm & Fleet. They seem to be popular with woodpeckers of various types, Downy, Red-Headed, and Hairy I've seen.

BOSS is very popular in my tube feeders, but do want to try the shelled variety to eliminate the shell waste. Corn seemed to be liked by Cardinals and Blue Jays, but also attracted lots and lots of Grackles, ugh. Thistle is liked by the smaller birds, especially finches, but I think they go for the bigger seeds more if they are available.

Lots of various sparrows and similar smaller birds, Mourning Doves (counted 27 at one time, all at once), no Eurasian doves here but I have seen them in the fields a few mles away. Some Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks, just saw a male Dark Eyed Junco this morning.

55 miles west of Chicago is the location.

vince

I like the no mess shelled black oil sunflower seeds that Joan mentioned. I will also back up the statement that suet balls, cakes and plugs are used more up north but I have a spot in FLA and I use the 'no melt suet'.

I am a big fan of the Chickadee so I hang the 'Chickadee Birdseed Balls' around, They attract the little fellows to my yard and they're pretty too!

You mentioned 'new birds', what are you looking to attract?

Here is a link that might be useful: Feeders and Seed

I feed as much suet in the summer as I do winter. I'll go through 2-3 each week. I mostly get downies, hairies, nuthatches, red bellied, and occasionally red headed woodpeckers. Sometimes, house sparrows will pose a small problem. I also get titmice feeding off them.

"You mentioned 'new birds', what are you looking to attract?"

Almost anything except more house sparrows and doves. Had a mated pair of Cardinals and a pair of house finches for the last couple of years but haven't seen either in months now... During particularly bad/cold winter weather, I usually get a few Dark Eyed Juncos and have one tiny Chickadee that visits maybe once a month but both are irregular visitors at best.
Steve