Male Red-bellied only

by Les & Marti Blount
(Orwell, NY, USA)

We have been feeding birds for several years now. We added suet feeders 3 years ago. We added our third suet feeder this February. We have had a Red-belly male at our feeders every winter. We put our feeders away when the weather clears and the snow goes away. We live in the snow belt on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario in New York.

The first two feeders for suet which we acquired are the typical wire mesh sturdy green which hold a single suet cake. We use suet mainly from Wal-Mart.... the most inexpensive, not flavored. At times when other suets are on sale at Tractor Supply we will buy a dozen of them. We went through 36 cakes so far this winter (2014-'15. The most recent additional feeder is one that is made of wood. It has an extended area for a woodpecker tail rest. We are trying to get larger woodpeckers interested.

This year we have seen a second male at the feeder, but we have never seen a female. We live in a rural area with wooded land on three sides. There are pines, spruce, maple, cherry, and oak all around. We see the male throughout the year in our trees. We have an expansive front lawn with many maple trees. Besides the Red-belly we have Downey, Hairy, and we have even seen Pileated from a distance.