See this picture? It turns out that there IS an alternative to having starlings eat up all our peanut butter suet. It's called an "upside down feeder." Apparently starlings cannot hang upside down while eating, but other birds (including this woodpecker), can.
So yesterday I decided to turn our cage suet holder into an upside down suet holder, and it seems to be working, even if it looks totally dorky (Richard finds it a little on the hysterically funny side but he's restraining himself in the interests of Family Peace). It looks SO dorky, in fact, that I'm giving you a photo of the professionally manufactured upside down feeder, and not mine.
3 comments:
No more starlings at our place. Although I feel a little guilty. We had about 4 - 5 nesting starlings in cottonwoods that had been lopped off about 20 feet up (giant stumps). But black cat climbed up there last spring and killed all them mamas who wouldn't leave their nests one by one. And then one day the black cat was gone. We figured the male starlings put out a hit on her and a local owl did her in. No more starlings.
Don't feel guilty, Andrea. Those bloody starlings are SUCH bullies. Sometimes I have to take the peanut butter feeder off the hanger before they eat it all. They really do irritate me. I need black cat. Our little golden Toffee is way too lazy to do much beyond stare at them sleepily, then turn away and head for his own food dish.
(don't hold back, Sheila, tell us how you feel)
starlings in my backyard have adapted to the upside down suet feeder. I just had to quit feeding suet. I was not getting to see any wood peckers anyway.
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