STOP THIEF!

O.K., we now have a thief at the birdfeeder. The suet feeder to be exact. I suspect the blue jays. When the lump of suet gets low, it will suddenly disappear altogether. I know that the birds could not have eaten it down that fast. I may have seen a sufficient size lump in the basket not 20 minutes earlier, Then nothing!

Yesterday, I tried a new technique to try to stop the thievery. I took a plastic net bag like onions and other vegetables come in and tied the ends with a twist tie. I had placed a lump of suet inside first. Then I tried to twist the twist tie onto the wires of the suet basket. While we were having lunch today, DH said, “The suet is gone.” It had not been 20 minutes since I looked out there and a sizeable lump was still in the net bag. The thief had even taken the bag. DH looked outside and could not find the bag. The thief had absconded with everything!

I made another suet bag from plastic netting, this time leaving longer ends on the twist ties. DH took this one and his being much taller than I am, hopefully was able to twist the ends sufficiently around the wire of the basket that the thief will not be able to remove it.

I need to find more suet. We were fortunate to have been able to get a large amount of natural suet last time we had a beef butchered. The processors were Amish and very conscientious. When DH asked them if we could buy some, they came back with about a 2-gallon bag full. They refused payment. I sliced it up into basket sized lumps and it has lasted about 2 years.

BULLIES AT THE BIRD FEEDER

I love watching the birds at my feeder but I can’t ignore the bullying that is going on. The Red-bellied Woodpeckers are one of the larger birds that patronize my feeder and they really “throw their weight around”. Even the acrobatic Nuthatches will flit to the other side when the Woodpeckers land on the railing to feed. I’m not able to tell if the Woodpecker is giving the other birds a quick peck to encourage their leaving but I am suspecting that is what is happening.

Unfortunately, it is a chain reaction. Then the Nuthatches, with their longer beak, chase the smaller Downey Woodpeckers away. I’ve also observed the Downy running the smaller Titmice off the rail and also away from the suet basket that hangs nearby. So far I haven’t seen the Titmice bullying the sparrows or finches.

The beautiful Cardinals aren’t left out. Though they seem to come when the other birds aren’t around. If one comes up you only need look around at the branches surrounding the feeder to see his/her mate and perhaps another pair or two. But, there definitely seems to be a “pecking order” for them also. You seldom see two males side by side at the feeder. I suspect that there is some type of hierarchy involved in the taking of turns at the feeder.