By trial & error, I found that the “berry suet” doesn’t attract starlings. So, that’s the only suet I’ll put out now. I purchase it already packaged. There are multiple others but the “berry” one attracts only woodpeckers, nuthatches & chickadees. Plus, the occasional comical magpie trying to hover to nab a piece of suet from the basket. I put the suet block in a basket feeder & only from late fall through the winter.
Brian Carrigan
Doesn’t the suet block attract starlings?
MaDWhitham
It’s not the years in your life, it’s the life in your years!!!
On May 20, 2018, at 3:38 PM, lcarrigan_55@yahoo.com [ible]
For Sharon, my direct email response to your question wouldn’t go through. But, answering, I only feed black-oil sunflower seeds, Nyjer seed & a berry suet block. I stopped all “mixed” bird seeds years ago, as any of the mixes I tried all attracted House Sparrows. Didn’t matter what the mix combination was, House Sparrows would arrive.
Since going to “straight” seeds as noted, I get maybe 5 or 6 House Sparrows a year now. Believe the last one I saw at the feeder was a lone male for about a half day, last month. Last year I started a hummingbird feeder again &, now, a bright orange plastic Oriole feeder with 2 pegs for orange halves & 2 cups for jam. The Orioles love it! I have stopped the suet & always do when the weather warms up, as it can get rancid quickly. Hope this helps.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
For Sharon, my direct email response to your question wouldn’t go through. But, answering, I only feed black-oil sunflower seeds, Nyjer seed & a berry suet block. I stopped all “mixed” bird seeds years ago, as any of the mixes I tried all attracted House Sparrows. Didn’t matter what the mix combination was, House Sparrows would arrive.
Since going to “straight” seeds as noted, I get maybe 5 or 6 House Sparrows a year now. Believe the last one I saw at the feeder was a lone male for about a half day, last month. Last year I started a hummingbird feeder again &, now, a bright orange plastic Oriole feeder with 2 pegs for orange halves & 2 cups for jam. The Orioles love it! I have stopped the suet & always do when the weather warms up, as it can get rancid quickly. Hope this helps.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Today has presented a big change in feeder visitors. Appears all the Pine Siskins, Cassin’s Finches & about 1/2 the Am Goldfinches have moved on during the night. The Black-headed Grosbeaks, House Finches & remaining Goldfinches are the main visitors today. And, the Bullock’s Orioles have changed the pattern to visiting their feeder today.
Yesterday, they would announce their arrival with their call, perch in a tree for a bit, then fly in & attack both an orange half & jam cup. Today, they’re stealth visitors. No song, still perch in a tree & then suddenly appear at the feeder. Then, they take off just as silently. Interesting. Maybe, starting to nest & trying not to draw attention to themselves. Others today have been Violet-green & Tree Swallows.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
At lake Lowell West of Nampa many nesting cliff swallows structure off of
upper dam.probably 200 or more mud nest easy to photograph sibley guide to
bird behavior states they use about 1000 mud pellets to construct them
Nyjer does not last forever and where I purchased mine they told me that after the same experience you had, that it does lose its ‘appeasability’ if it is not kept cool (they told me to keep it in the refrigerator) because the oil in the seed dissipates over time and warmth speeds that up..
I purchased a new fresh bag and instead of throwing out the older seed I mixed about 10-15% of the old in with the new and got my goldfinches back along with eating all the seed (new and the older seeds).
That worked for me.
Monte TaylorTustin Ranch, .CATsuru Bird / Mammal Website
http://www.tsuru-bird.net
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
——– Original message ——–From: “smeikle@iw.net [ible]”
Good Morning –
Wondering if anyone is a bird seed expert that can help me with a question I have regarding Nyjer seed? I have a bag of Nyjer seed that is approx. 1 year old that I just put out but have not been getting much activity from the gold finches. Initially I had it located under an Aspen tree by a multi-seed feeder. After not much activity, I relocated it across the yard next to a large columnar pine with no increased activity. Is it the seed? I have only seen a few gold finches this year compared to years past so maybe that’s the issue. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Sharon M.Boise Posted by: smeikle@iw.net —-
Seeds with a high oil content like your thistle & black-oil sunflower seeds can, as Charles noted, go rancid. But a year should be OK. I suspect the seed that I purchase now is from last year’s crops, as new crops are just now being planted. I would guess, it’s more migration patterns. I’m having a huge number of both Am Goldfinches & Pine Siskins hitting the thistle feeder to the point that I’m filling the tube which has 8 slots for feeding, everyday. And, that’s unusual for my side of the state & location. I don’t feed any mixed birdseed, too much Millet which attracts House Sparrows.
I fill a hanging platform feeder with black-oil sunflower seeds, the tube with thistles & now, an Oriole feeder. I filled the jam cups with grape jam & placed two “Little Sweetie” orange halves on the pegs yesterday & a male Bullock’s Oriole has been hitting it all morning. Hope this helps.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Niger (aka thistle) seed does get funky after a while, the oils within seem
to go rancid (this can probably happen to any bird seed). But it can also
take a while for finches to find it unless they are already coming to say a
nearby sunflower feeder. You’ll get mostly goldfinches at the thistle
feeder in Boise (and they’ll also readily take sun flower seeds). I would
recommend sun flower only in the other feeder over a multi-seed feeder,
throw the mix on the ground if you are ok with that.
Charles.
On Sat, May 19, 2018 at 6:29 AM smeikle@iw.net [ible] < ible-noreply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>
>
> Good Morning –
>
>
> Wondering if anyone is a bird seed expert that can help me with a question
> I have regarding Nyjer seed? I have a bag of Nyjer seed that is approx. 1
> year old that I just put out but have not been getting much activity from
> the gold finches. Initially I had it located under an Aspen tree by a
> multi-seed feeder. After not much activity, I relocated it across the yard
> next to a large columnar pine with no increased activity. Is it the seed?
> I have only seen a few gold finches this year compared to years past so
> maybe that’s the issue. Any thoughts?
>
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> Sharon M.
>
> Boise
>
>
—
Charles Swift
Moscow, Idaho
chaetura@gmail.com
Good Morning –
Wondering if anyone is a bird seed expert that can help me with a question I have regarding Nyjer seed? I have a bag of Nyjer seed that is approx. 1 year old that I just put out but have not been getting much activity from the gold finches. Initially I had it located under an Aspen tree by a multi-seed feeder. After not much activity, I relocated it across the yard next to a large columnar pine with no increased activity. Is it the seed? I have only seen a few gold finches this year compared to years past so maybe that’s the issue. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Sharon M.
Boise
Hit the birding at first light this AM. After last evening’s torrential downpour (2 inches in 1-1/2 hr) thought the thunderstorms may have caused some migrants to sit tight overnight. Found all the usual summer residents, plus a male W Tanager, in fresh spring plumage that landed on the top of my Oriole feeder & allowed for a satisfying, long observation. Now, after warming up with a cup of coffee, headed back out to see if any Lazuli Buntings are around.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot