how to keep starlings off suet feeder? (1 Viewer)

[LeesKeys]

I'm sure this question has been asked a billion times, but...how to discourage blackbirds and starlings at my feeders? They were guzzling down big chunks from my suet holder, so I attached the holder to the bottom of a 6x6 piece of plywood and hung the platform on my feeding station. Woodpeckers can get to it easily. At first, this stumped the black birds, but being the smart birds they are, they've now figured out how to fly from beneath, hang onto the suet holder, and eat the suet. So my adaptation has slowed them down but not stopped them by any means! I've thought about buying a suet feeder within a cage. Will these keep black birds and starling out but allow access for larger woodpeckers like the red-bellied and flickers? Any specific feeders recommended? BTW, I'm located in eastern N.C.

 

[KC Foggin]

Hi Lee and a warm welcome to you from the entire staff here at BirdForum :t:

You might want to find suet feeders that are actually suet feeders within a cage. Woodies feed from the bottom and small birds get through the cage to eat the suet.

I got mine through Amazon

Suet Feeder

 

[KC Foggin]

And here is the one I actually purchased a few of:

Suet feeder​

 

[LeesKeys]

Thanks Foggin. I took your advice and ordered the Amazon suet feeder. We'll see how well it works for me.

 

[Ruff]

^^^ My word, not merely a suet feeder, but a suet palace! Hard to resist for someone with a virtual town of (Name the pest animal) proof feeders in his backyard.

 

[KC Foggin]

They work well for me. Don't go through nearly as much suet as I did before purchasing them.

 

[Ruff]

They work well for me. Don't go through nearly as much suet as I did before purchasing them.

On the amazon.ca feed I get, it looks as if they've put a 'floor' in the bottom of the suet compartment so woodpeckers might not be able to reach it anymore. Does yours have that, and if not I wonder if the present one is removable? Or can the WPs work around it?

 

[LeesKeys]

lovin this feeder

I'm very very pleased with this suet "palace". I should have invested in this a long time ago. Regarding the floor, at first I left that out, being concerned that woodpeckers might not be able to access from the bottom. Unfortunately, with out the floor, black birds were still able to do their hanging upside down stunts and get to the suet. I put the floor in and found that the woodpeckers, because of their long necks and beaks, can still get to the suet by coming from underneath at an angle. The smaller woodpeckers like the Downy, can get in through the cage. Installing the floor absolutely stopped the black birds after a couple of tries. Without them around the feeder, I'm getting a lot more smaller birds (wrens, chickadees, titmice) which were too timid to approach when the blackbirds were present.

https://goo.gl/photos/K7Ao2MrNNQC3ggth9

 

[KC Foggin]

I have yet to use a floor in the feeder but perhaps because I have less Starlings and Grackles than I've I've had in previous years.

I used to go through a dozen or more suet blocks each week. Now it's less than half that but I've got a lot of woodies

 

[Ruff]

... and now amazon.ca has declared them unavailable. Oh well, if they're still being made I can do a work-around through friends in the USA, but it will take longer. Suet's only popular here in the winter anyway.