Feeding Birds In The Winter

_{The view from my bathroom window.}

     As I begin to write this post, a lake-effect snow storm is pounding my area. Everything was still green at about six o'clock this morning. Boy, did that change quickly. Making the decision to go out to the store was risky; but, luckily, I made it back before the heavy snow began falling.

While at the store, I picked up something that will help my feathered friends survive the cold days ahead - suet cakes to fill the basket feeders hanging in my yard. Suet is rendered beef fat and is high in calories. Once, I read that birds can lose up to 25 percent of their bodyweight in one day during the winter as they burn calories to stay warm.

For this reason, I like to offer these suet cakes during the colder part of the year.

_{One of the nine that I bought.}

     Since they are only available part of the year, it usually takes a while for the birds to notice the cakes. It's a fun game to see which birds will discover them first. This year, the winners were the chickadees. Upon the discovery of the suet, a frenzy is soon to begin.

At this point there is almost always a bird pecking at the cage.

_{Dark-eyed junco chewing the fat.}

     So far, I've only seen the smaller birds visit the suet cages. That list includes dark-eyed juncos, chickadees, downey woodpeckers, and cardinals. Oh...and, of course, a squirrel was hanging off of one. I'm hoping to see doves at some point.

The one bird that I hope doesn't show up, though, are the blackbirds. I have no personal problem with blackbirds. It's just that when they show up to feeders, they show up in numbers so big they end up driving the other birds away. Ultimately, they end up squabbling with each other over who gets to eat at the cage feeders. It got so bad, I stopped filling the cages in the middle of last winter.

Today is my first time filling them since. In all, I have three cage feeders. This time, I tried to spread them out more across my yard. That way, if the blackbirds do show up, they might not dominate all of the food.

On top of the suet cakes, I also put out a bowl filled with a mix of black oiled sunflower seeds, striped sunflower seeds and peanut pieces.

Among all of this, I'm still taking care of the rabbits and squirrels this winter too. For them, it's pretty much the standard meals they usually eat. Blueberries and carrots for the bunnies and nuts and seeds for the squirrels.