The only seeds I have seen the woodpeckers (downy, hairy, and flickers around here) eat is sunflower, and only on rare occasions. Otherwise they pretty much stick to the suet feeders, except the hairy, he loves peanut butter.

I bought some "woodpecker's favorite" suet a while back that was mostly seeds loosely held together with just a little bit of suet as a binder, but they didn't seem to like it as much as the ones with a higher actual suet content.

Agree with ZachS. They love suet.

I tried to feed the woodpeckers for years, with complete failure. This is what has worked......I mix all the bird food in a large tin garbage can and use a hanging tray feeder. I think making sure that the feeder stays filled is a huge deal. You have to be consistent. The red breasted eat from the tray feeder, along with the cardinals, sparrows, blue jays, etc. They love the peanuts. The downy woodpeckers eat from the suet feeders.

Thanks to ZachS and nicholsworth I've come to realize I don't need to buy expensive Woodpecker blends/mixes. I just need to be consistent with good peanut suet because I'm also trying to attract the Carolina wren and the Robin.

Wendy, thank you for your experience here also. Suet it is.

P.S. I love all 3 of you to pieces and wish you the very best in 2016.

You're very welcome and the same to you.

Just a note.....the big red breasted woodpeckers would need a large suet feeder. They are petty big birds. But, I've never see one eat from my suet feeders, just the tray feeder.

I've seen red bellied woodpeckers on my suet basket (5"square?). It's attached to a post & is sturdy. Not as often as the hairy & downy ones though. Don't have woodpecker pics on this phone but I'll post a pic I took in my backyard. Happy birdwatching!

nicholsworth, that is a FABULOUS picture. I want one of those.

Thank you.

Was really fun to take it. These animals know me & don't freak when I'm near. Was about 4-5 ft away. Took pics. Backed away & it was still there & didn't fly off. We have pileated woodpeckers too. Haven't seen them eat suet. So funny - they land in my compost pile and fling stuff around.

I've only heard the owls here. I've never actually seem one. Probably not wooded enough. We are more deck bird watchers in a residential area. So, this is what we get.....

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One of the funniest thing to happen with birds in our yard......we have a tiny little pond. One morning my son went to let the dogs out and I hear him calling me. There was a duck couple in the pond. I don't know what they were thinking. They flew off, but it was cute.

You've got a great selection. Our neighborhood is wooded and we live close enough to walk to Eagle Creek Park. (Indianapolis) really is the perfect spot for birdwatching.

Yes, we do okay....but, it isn't owls. It really is a great pic. I wish I saw them like that.

Wendy, that sleepy sparrow in the burrow's tail is killing me. What a cutie. I am copying that picture and nicholsworth's owl for sure.

I live in Southeastern Michigan in a large stand of mostly oak and maple trees that are about 200 years old. I'll be 75 in March and i am passionate about our trees and birds. When somebody moves into the area and starts taking down the old trees I go bezerk. Did they view the house at night? Big storms are challenging for us but people are dangerous.

See you later, Nicholsworth.

I hear you on the trees, Pat. Right now, our issue is we have Ash trees and those ash beetles.

I don't think many people really like the sparrows. They aren't the flashiest or prettiest, but I adore them. They keep me entertained for hours zipping past the windows and around the deck. I love when I go out to feed them and I see them rustling around in the shrubs. And, they are always chattering on about something.

It snowed yesterday, so today we have the juncos. So cute.

ZachS - if I chopped down my trees where would my owl sit? haha No seriously humans are trashing the earth. But Pat and I have desirable hardwood trees and love them. Prairies r beautiful too.

Black oil sunflower seeds (and of course suet) both seem to appeal to woodpeckers during cold periods. I've had downies, hairies, and red bellies all eating sunflower seeds. Suet is definitely tastier to them, but they do eat the sunflower seeds too.

Just proves what the Cornell Ornithology Lab and every birder I know says: black oiled sunflower seeds (BOSS) is preferred by the largest variety of birds. I think that is why I am now only feeding BOSS and peanut suet in my feeders. Anything else is a waste of money for anybody on a fixed income. Even my welcomed native sparrows (NOT the invasive House Sparrows) are eating my BOSS on the ground, and I am hoping to attract the Carolina Wrens that were here last year, with my 2 peanut suet feeders also.

I have found that safflower also is a good seed for attracting many species. We feed almost all safflower and for my Christmas Bird Count this year I tallied over 20 species at our feeder over 4 hours.

I have tried adding black sunflower, but it doesn't seem to bring in anything other than what we've already got.

As an added bonus, the safflower is not preferred by black birds, starlings or squirrels, so, unless they are really strapped for other food, they tend to stay away.

Another good seed, Pat, is nyjer or thistle seed in specialty finch feeders. We get a lot of lesser goldfinches, and regularly see a small number of American goldfinches and pine siskins at our nyjer feeder. We don't have redpols here, but they reportedly love it as well. The house finches love it when I scatter a few handfuls on the ground, and every once in a while they will use the mesh feeder with the g-finches. The juncos also enjoy the little bit I put on the ground.

I would like to try a good quality mix with white millet to bring in more sparrows, but I am concerned that it would bring in the house sparrows. After many years of never seeing a single one at our feeder, I have seen a juvenile and an adult male on a few separate occasions this winter.

ZachS, when i put out a mix with the white and red millet, I not only attracted the native sparrows that i wanted, but, yes, the House Sparrows came in great numbers. So I stopped. And, yes, I know about Safflower seed. I fed it last year with success from the squirrels, but did not know if it would attract all the same birds as the BOSS. I did discover that Lowe's carries the Audubon BOSS/Safflower blend, so I am thinking of trying that when next. I do remember appreciating having one or two feeders exclusively with safflower. Too bad it's not as inexpensive as BOSS.

I'm going to forego the Nyjer since all my finches seem to love the BOSS and I'm trying to be frugal to impress my husband. I appreciate your comments very much and will definitely get more safflr.

Pat - Not a bird but a fun pic. My squirrel Nutty eating breakfast.

Yeah, safflower is more expensive, and we have so many house finches and collard doves that I doubt we save any money by excluding black birds, starlings and squirrels. Though, I do put out corn for the squirrels, because they don't bother me unless they are eating from the feeders to be honest.

Safflower is also reportedly the most favorite food of cardinals. Again, we don't get those guys this far west, so I cant speak from experience but I'm sure you get them! Of course they probably come to the sunflower just fine anyways.

That's very cool that your finches eat the sunflower. The only ones that eat it at my house are the house finches. The others, gold finches and pine siskins, ONLY eat the nyjer. Unless you count Maximilian, or perennial, sunflowers. They like the seed heads I leave standing in the garden for them. But they have tiny seeds, more like echinacea than BOSS or striped sunflower seeds.

I love "Nutty," Nicholsworth! How funny he eats right from the jar! I saw an Abert's squirrel the other day, not at my house, they live up in the high county. But it was nice since I haven't seen one of those guys in many, many years! Mostly just pine squirrels like this guy, who was literally "barking" at me through a mouthful of Douglas fir!

Robins were mentioned earlier back. Thought I would share what was on my deck this morning. Don't know why they haven't gone south. Only got a pic of the one. There is a pair of them

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There are several subspecies of robins, and not all are migratory...even into southern Canada.

ZachS - Love your photos. Love the Pine squirrel. Lighter coloring and seems smaller than the kind we get. Nutty is fun. Once I was sitting on my garden seat & he put his front paws on my thigh & stretched his face up towards me like "Hi! I'm here. See me. Nuts?" started eating from the jar because he couldn't wait for me to pour them out

ZachS, okay, because you were the most recent person recommending Safflower bird food to me, I went out today and bought some just to get started (I mean, talk about obsessive -- I never go out on Saturday to shop) and then ordered 50 pounds for about $64 delivered freeto my front door from Home Depot . That was the best deal I could find, so I went with it. So far my Cardinals remember that they liked Saff. here last year, some of the other birds aren't sure yet (only put it out this afternoon for goodness sake), and the doves are delighted with it even tho' I have a mixed ground food with BOSS and corn for them, the squirrels, snow birds, native sparrows, etc. We'll see how it goes tomorrow and on.

I have a squirrel who scratches on my front window when he needs more food. Where did I go wrong. I do love the pesky squirrels when they are on the ground, not in my feeders. Found out today that my 2 serious bird-feeding neighbors do not feed safflower, so I am very happy to offer something different in my yards. Thank you, ZachS, I think.

Thank you Nicholsworth! We definitely get the big, orange/gray fox squirrels here, too. But, I don't like them as much as the pine and Abert's squirrels (the Abert's are black or gray, with tufted ears like a lynx, beautiful little critters) and the pine squirrels are LOUD! Much smaller, but MUCH louder than the fox squirrels.

I hope the safflower works out well for you Pat! I will keep putting the BOSS out through the spring/early summer to see if it attracts any of the migrators, but like I said, so far, it is on equal footing with the safflower for speices attracted and preference. I was also at the bird seed place this afternoon, BOSS was only 2-3 dollars cheaper than safflower, though, if I buy it at Home Depot or somewhere it will probably be a bigger difference.

They also had a bag of just white proso millet which I picked up. It's fairly inexpensive (as far as birdseed goes) so I will experiment with it to see if I can get more sparrows, and maybe keep the towhee coming around a little more often.

Pat - Took this pic just now from my family room window...(little fuzzy)...We removed a bad limb & there must be some insects. Planned to remove this tree in the spring but I might want to leave it awhile for woody...I bought safflower too & I love that the squirrels let the birds eat in peace.

Wow, nicholsworth, what a great picture. I have a pileated (sp) woodpecker feeder with a tail extension, or whatever it's called, coming from Amazon, tomorrow I think. And I heard the peanut suet cakes that everybody rated highly somewhere, are cheapest at Wal-Mart, so I'll be going there Tuesday morning. I hate Wal-Mart but those suet cakes are important and Amazon's price for the C&A cakes are outrageous. Have 50 pounds of safflower coming from Amazon tomorrow also. Ya-hooo -- and now we have the cold weather we've dreaded and some snow. So I expect action outlside. Everybody seems to really like the safflower and I love the look on the squirrels' faces when they get to the feeders. They have BOSS on the ground and they still climb the feeders -- I don't get it

You guys have a good week.

Had a little snow last night. Something took our suet basket! Was tied with a strip of t-shirt fabric to a sturdy branch. Squirrels have climbed on it & it was fine I thought. Same thing happened last year & my husband found it in the spring. Had a spare & put this one up with a chain...the birds enjoy it so much I feel guilty if it's not out there...

Love the peliated Nicholsworth! Are they really as big as they seem in the pictures?

We had a shot of snow last week as well, but since then it's been bluebird skies so not a whole lot of action at our feeders. However, the beautiful days this weekend made it fun to get out and enjoy the outdoors, and had a chance to see a ton of raptors out at Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR. I also drove down to Santa Fe, and was hoping to check out the Randall Davey Audubon Center while I was there, unfortunately they are closed until February.

Anyways, I switched out the peanut butter on my little aspen log feeder with some stuff called "bark butter." Advertised to be loved by over 125 different species of birds. Seems mine prefer just regular old Kroger brand crunchy peanut butter that is 1/3 the price...

Also, I have started to notice that all the birds at my feeders significantly prefer safflower to BOSS. They wont hardly touch the sunflower seed feeders, but I have to refill the safflower ones pretty frequently. Perhaps we have just habituated them to safflower over the years.

The millet experiment is also going well. The song sparrow shows up more often and the juncos absolutely love it. Even the white breasted nuthatch was trolling the ground with them. So far I have still only seen the single house sparrow, so that's good.

The pileated woodpeckers are LARGE. When they fly they catch my eye even if I'm not looking directly out the window. I've had great success with safflower seed. Squirrels are ignoring it and the birds r loving it. Saw my first cardinal eating safflower seeds a couple of days ago. Zach would it work to fill the log feeder with suet? Would it be cheaper than peanut butter? Or do u attract more birds with peanut butter? My suet is pretty popular.

I would love to see them. I get excited when I see hairy's, they are about the biggest ones we have. Maybe flickers are bigger...

I already have 3 suet feeders, and they are a hit with woodpeckers, chickadees, and the occasional starling, which are not common enough at my feeder for me to put a lot of energy into dissuading them. I put the butter out as something "different." Of course, it pretty much attracts the same birds as suet, but hey, I don't like to eat the exact same thing every day, maybe birds like to switch it up every once in a while, too lol. I did make the switch to the more expensive "bark butter" trying to attract other species, but so far, nothing out of the ordinary. BUT one of the factors is timing, and which birds we actually have in the area in the dead of winter. Much like the sunflower seed, I may end up finding that it is attractive to the migrators and summer birds. I'm not publishing any results based on our limited winter residents ;).

I think it's great that you spend time and money to provide a variety of treats for different birds...Look where Nutty was sitting today...that arbor is only about 3 months old...told my husband he better not scratch it haha

I feed suet, sunflower, and a treat called "nutsie" - and see them all day long.

Bad pic - but here's a woodpecker eating from my tube feeder and another one eating suet.

woodpecker won this battle lol

To be fair, my bird feeders are more like a "bait station" so I can take pictures, lol! We'll, I guess its mutually beneficial, so, no harm no foul right?

Nutty may not scratch it (well he may...) but when they sit up on the deck railing to get peanuts out of the blue jay feeder, they pee all over it. I would rather have scratches to be quite honest.

Neat pictures Mrsshane! Love the face off!