~ By Vicky ~
One of the many joys of home ownership is being able to do what one wants with one's own home and property. For instance, drilling a decorative metal hanger into one's ancient fir tree, and upon that hanger, placing a double suet holder for the birds to feast upon. One should take pride in one's home-improvement projects. So why stop at that? S. and I have planted not one, not two, but three bird-feeders in the grounds of our property. Were these feeders expensive for being essentially metal poles that hold seeds? Yes. Are they rather large unwieldy things sticking up from the ground? Yes. Do they bring us immeasurable joy no matter the weather of the day? Most definitely. I can't even count the rainy, cloudy, and even sunny days spent peering out our windows checking in on our bird-feeders that are now literally surrounding our house.
Our first feeder was bought online from Amazon. It was a most perfunctory feeder, having two simple curved arms and standing squat at only 48 inches. We had to bed it in a large planter to raise it off the ground more and add a squirrel baffle. But this wasn't enough to protect it from squirrels. It served us for a couple of years until we finally abandoned it for our new, carefully constructed feeder poles.
The next pole bought from Home Depot was much improved, standing at 84 inches tall. Still a two-arm affair, but this one was a one-piece and had a more decorative look. We hooked onto it a suet feeder and a scenic feeder of evergreen trees and moose outlines, covered by a copper leaf-designed baffle.
Let's talk about squirrels. They are truly polymath geniuses with the physical prowess surpassing any Olympic gymnast. While S. and I triumphed at stopping them from climbing up our feeder poles with baffles, we were unmatched when it comes to their tenacity and jumping ability. One particular squirrel, Archimedes, was able to sprint up our rhododendron bush and in one fluid movement leap six feet to land above the baffle and claim his reward - all the suet and seed he can eat. Even after tying the branch of rhododendron back to increase the distance to seven feet, he still made the jump with ease. We ended up moving the feeder two feet further away from the rhododendron. So far, nine feet of distance has check-mated him. So far.
The first few years of living in Salem we weren't home much, and so these two feeders sufficed to add some bird-watching enjoyment at home. This year finds us home more and not doing our usual camping/birding trips. While recuperating from my broken ankle, I discovered Duncraft's website on all things home bird-feeder related, and thus started my home feeder addiction.
The next feeder was a hybrid platform and hopper combo that attached to a three-piece pole with squirrel baffle bought from Duncraft. For seed, we bought a 30 pound bag of black oil sunflower seed mixed with sunflower chips and millet. I thought this would be the bonanza feeder, but it took the birds several days to even side glance at it. I plugged in several branches for them to perch on and it's been a roaring success. Along with the new seed mix, we added pea-sized suet balls mixed with whole dried mealworms. The suet balls are the most successful food so far. Nuthatches, Scrub Jays, Starlings, Chickadees--none can resist when I toss in a handful of suet balls into the hopper. The Scrub Jay scoops them up by two's, the Starlings will gorge and fill their beaks with several, and the white-breasted nuthatches routinely swoops 'n snatches them up one at a time.
(Jay and nuthatch on bird feeder is a composite image)
With this feeder, we've managed to attract Black-headed Grosbeaks to our yard (and we
believe, to the neighborhood) for the first time. Their chunky bills have perfectly evolved to hull the sunflower seed meat. They love to sit on the platform edge plucking out sunflower seeds and dropping the shells to the ground. We have discovered that they are very watchful and startle easily. When watching them indoors, we have to move very slowly so that they don't startle from seeing us through the window. Happily, after many weeks of window-blind bird watching, we have noticed that the birds really use the branches that I have added. From large jays to small chickadees, all use the branches as lookout posts before grabbing a bite.
Moving on to the backyard feeder: this is the pièce de résistance! as S. would declare. I bought it from Duncraft, of course, and it is aptly and epically called the "Squirrel Stopper Sequoia". This beauty stands at 90 inches tall with four arms that can hold 15 pounds each. The pole is multi-sectional with one section holding the baffle and has a screw base with auger to plant it deeeep into the ground. It is wonderful to behold.
Currently we only have a Squirrel Buster feeder and a woodpecker suet feeder also bought from Duncraft. We had to keep it away from our fir trees, so it's kind of on the edge of the lawn, but the squirrels can't touch this thang. I love seeing them look up at it, tails twitching trying to figure it out, but this feeder has check-mated them from day one.
A word about the fancy red suet feeder. Several features stood out to me that made me want to get it: 1) the mesh is tighter so it forces birds to peck at the suet 2) so far no starlings have fed at it (which is a good thing because they are messy and decimate/waste suet) 3) it can fit two suet blocks, but far better is that I can--and do--fill it with suet balls and shelled peanuts. We call this our "ratatouille" mix - a layer of peanuts, a layer of suet balls, and the suet block. At first I was disappointed with this feeder because no woodpeckers came to it, and it took weeks for the birds to use it. I had to put a chopstick in as a perch for them to begin exploring it. But surprisingly it's the peanuts that have made this feeder a raving success with the chickadees and nuthatches. The peanuts are the first food to get eaten, even before the suet balls (which is fortuitous since peanuts are cheaper), and it's fun to watch the birds peck away to break off a peanut chunk. The red-breasted nuthatches especially have a vigorous head-banging technique that packs a wallop.
(Interruption for public service announcement from S.: this morning, two Downy Woodpeckers, a parent feeding a juvenile peanuts one by one, were spotted on the 'pecker feeder and clumsily photographed, as is her wont, by S. with her iPhone, for proof that the cost that V. poured into this feeder has finally been justified! Such photo will remain unpublished in keeping with V.'s impeccable aesthetic standard).
Chef de cuisine Vic's Wild Ratatouille over here!
At first, I tried coaxing them with peanut butter smeared onto the mesh.
But now it's all about the peanuts.
I've been trying to pace myself as far as buying more feeders. I literally could spend hundreds of dollars on these crazy things. Oh and did I mention our hummingbird feeders? No? Well, we have a few of those. The most recent addition was a feeder that breeds fruit flies from bananas for the hummingbirds. At first it seemed like one hummer was territorially protecting the bug feeder, but we haven't actually seen one eat the flies. It's kinda gross because there are fruit flies all over it, but I look at it every chance I get and anticipate the day when we finally see a hummer just chilling and flicking his tongue out feasting on the flies. And hey at least they like our other feeders.
(Public service announcement #2 from V. I was just about to publish this when S. caught on iPhone camera an American Goldfinch at the platform/hopper feeder, which, though grainy and not up to my aesthetic gold standard (as S. has phrased it), I post it forthwith, FORTHWITH, because I am so dang excited that we attracted these perfect yellow feather puffs of sunshine to our yard.)
Very enjoyable. I hope that you post MORE episodes of birds using your feeders. They are so interesting, opening up a new world of interest to me.