Hi Folks,
Nancy and I once helped a catbird through an upstate New York winter by
providing it with crumbled suet on the snow. That bird had us well-trained,
as soon as he appeared in the yard in the morning we were out the door with
the suet. When the catbird first appeared he spent all of his time under the
suet feeder picking up the crumbs dropped by feeding chickadees, titimice,
and woodpeckers; we just re-located and enhanced the suet pile to favor him.
We have also had Pine Warblers and thrashers feed on suet crumbs on the
ground.
I have often wondered why we see insectivores feeding in the seed chaff in
our feeders. I suspect the reason may be insect larvae in the seeds. Indian
meal moth larvae are often numerous in sunflower seeds.
Good Birding & Atlasing,
Walter Ellison
23460 Clarissa Road
Chestertown, MD 21620
phone: 410-778-9568
e-mail:
"A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. B.
White (in "Stuart Little")
"Are there *ever* enough birds?" - Connie Hagar as quoted by Edwin Way Teale
in "Wandering through Winter"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Norm Saunders" <>
To: <>
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 9:31 AM
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] question for the experts
> That's an interesting observation, Monroe. We tend to stop putting suet
> out this time of year because all it attracts are starlings and
> grackles--they can finish off a whole suet cake in half a day...sigh.
>
> One wonders--is suet a substitute for the nourishment catbirds are getting
> from insects?
>
> Norm Saunders
>
> -------------- Original message from Monroe Harden :
>
>> We have 2-3 catbirds hanging around our feeders at home, and they seem to
>> concentrate on the suet cake. That suet is quite popular these days-
>> we've had
>> robins, catbirds, mockingbirds, adult and fledgling starlings, downy
>> woodpeckers, and a lone chickadee eating there within minutes of each
>> other. We
>> have plenty of seed around, in the feeders and on the ground, but the
>> birds seem
>> to like the suet the most.
>
> |