Pileated Woodpecker

[Bob Correll]

I was excited to see this big guy this morning.
Had to shoot through open mini blinds in the door, then adjust contrast in Picasa.
I hang the suet cake upside down to help keep trash birds from eating it.

 

[Len Dennis]

Sure do have a nice selection of wildlife Bob.

 

[Jim Lampe]

Len, I think he puts BACON in the suet cakes...

 

[Brian Dahl]

I hang the suet cake upside down to help keep trash birds from eating it.

I'm glad that works for you Bob - our trash birds have figured out how to hang/eat upside down. You can tell they don't like it, but they like the suet better.

 

[ChuckO]

Nice photos Bob. I've seen them in Carmel, good looking bird

 

[Len Dennis]

Len, I think he puts BACON in the suet cakes...

If so, he'd have to call it "sooo-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e- cakes".

 

[JimK]

Nice shots, Bob!

 

[russ olin]

Nice pictures of your birds Bob.

 

[Richard Hinton]

Very nice photo, Bob. Unfortunately your trash birds will learn how to hang off of the sides of the suet holder to get to the goodness on the bottom. At least that's what happened to me.

 

[Rich Dahl]

Great pictures Bob. If you put bacon in there like Jim said and I lived close by you might have got a chance to take a picture of me hanging upside down on that feeder.

 

[Bob H.]

Nice photo Bob! Here the squirrels would steal the little suet holder and take it to where they can break it open.
It's the "Chicago way".....

 

[Bob Correll]

Thanks everyone!

It helps if you can get the inverted feeder hanging so that it tips when landed on.
One or two starlings have figured it out, but they get tired of me chasing them off.
Saw a goldfinch the other day trying to hover like a hummingbird to get at it.

 

[Brad Olson]

Unfortunately there are no pileated woodpeckers around here; the biggest ones we get are the redheads and "ladderbacks" (red-bellied). The Cornell Lab of Ornithology shows the pileated as a year-round resident of most of Wisconsin except for the south-central and southeast.

The only trash birds I've had problems with are starlings but only when the weather is warmer and the suet gets soft. In the winter only the woodpeckers and the occasional curious sparrow use the feeders.

I've always known labs are smart dogs but how impressive is it that one studies ornithology at an Ivy League school!!