Feeding the Birds in the Summer

Feeding the birds in the wintertime is a no-brainer for most people, but feeding them in the summer is not as widespread it seems. It is a shame too because summertime feeding of birds is so much more rewarding.

I've always fed the hummers in the summer and allowed the plants to feed other birds. Well, like always I put out my hummingbird feeders this summer but they were quickly inundated with ants! Since my hummingbird feeders were mounted to my porch and a second story window, ants were a bit too close to the inside of the house for comfort, so I sought to find another way to feed not only the hummers but all birds. I wanted a station that was convenient and pretty. I think I've found it. The above feeding station is made from a pole (purchased from Heimonsohn Salvage for about $2), and some old hay rake tines. I found these hay rake tines at a roadside stand off from Ashland City Road here in Clarksville. I think they are fairly common but I'd been unable to locate them until recently. I set the pole in concrete, added the hay rakes, and hung my bird feeders and what a busy place it has turned out to be! I think the total cost of the station was a grand total of $20, not including the bird feeders and food. A pretty good investment really.

I can watch this station from inside of the house. Of course I don't get the close up views that I did when the feeders were hung from the porch, but I did leave one type of feeder on the porch, a suet feeder. I was under the impression you should not put out suet in the summer since the temperature was so hot it would melt the suet. Well, it turns out that is not so. I left a suet block out front and I tell you it is as busy as the feeding station. There were three woodpeckers on it at one time recently. I could not believe it. Cardinals, finches, and woodpeckers are the main diners, but the occasional chickadee fits in a bite or two as well. This suet feeder is within 5 feet of my living room window and I can see it clearly when sitting and relaxing. I recently taped a woodpecker feeding on the suet, complete with background noise in the form of a television. I thought I'd share the video with you all....

in the garden....enjoying the birds.

Squirrel proof Suet Cakes

I have been talking about birds a lot lately from my Georgia Garden. I am behind on posts and just playing catch up until there is more to talk about in the garden. Birds are a big part of our gardens as they do so much for us and we in the return, try to help them out at times. One such way we help the birds in our yard is to provide them food. We have 6 different types of woodpeckers visit us and they enjoy such treats as the suet cakes we provide them. The suet really gets a work out during the cold winter months when bugs are scarce. Other birds such as the wren, nuthatch, titmouse, blue jay, sparrows to name a few enjoy the suet as well.

We were having an issue with the squirrels eating the cakes within a day and had to do something to squirrel proof the cakes. I decided we needed a suet pole. This was my solution that the Saint put into action. We work well together, I come up with ideas and he does the hard labor to construct my little projects. This has worked well for us as we have been with each other for 23 years!
We purchased a stove pipe baffle that fits on a square fence post and installed it before setting up the pole. This is the long type baffle keeping both squirrels and raccoons at bay from the treasures above. This picture was taken before our spring cleaning and you can see the green mildew from the icky wet winter. She shines with a wash down each spring.
We lost a tree during a storm and decided to utilize the stump to mount the suet pole. As you can see the pole has been in this spot for some time as the stump is starting to rot. In time, we will remove the pole from the stump and dig a hole and place the pole in the ground as if a fence post would be mounted. You can see we have plenty of pole to hide in the ground by looking at the first picture. We can easily move the stove pipe and cages up a bit.

We then took inexpensive suet cages and mounted them to the pole with washers and wood screws. Simple enough.

There are different types of suet cages but we chose the one that opens from the front for easy cake installation.

We only placed cages on three sides so we can view the activity from the sun-room windows.

We hope to attract the Pileated Woodpecker to the suet in time. So far he and the misses prefer to use our birdbaths and not the suet cakes. Upon research, we learned that they will come to suet cages if mounted verses swinging on chains as our other suet cages.

Cute little Mr. Wren, above, enjoys a snack from our SQUIRREL PROOF SUET CAKES, In the Garden...

Update: Since setting this topic to post, we made an improvement to our Suet Pole. The Saint installed a birdhouse on the top of the pole. I know we will probably not have any nests with this being so close to food but I just had to have one of the "See Rock City" barns in my life. I miss them since leaving Tennessee and need a reminder of my home. We both always thought the pole looked unfinished but now are happy with the over all look...