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.

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Apr 05, 2015
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by: Brook

Hello Les and Marti, If you'd like to try to attract a female you could leave the suet out. The male will call for her and she will check him out and the location he has chosen, if she likes what she sees she will stay. Possibly there are no females because there is no food supply to raise a family but be prepared to feed them! A Mom needs a lot of energy during nesting season. The little ones need tons of protein so you can put out their favorite freeze dried insects or live.

I purchased corner braces from the local hardware store for for under $2.00 and screwed them on the bottom side of an old board, I used twist ties to hold the green cage to the braces, then I drilled holes in all 4 corners and ran cord through the holes and hung my suet holder from a tree branch. I works great, starlings can't hang upside down so the suet doesn't disappear in one afternoon.
Apr 05, 2015
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starstarstarstarstar 		Suet feeders NEW
by: Art (bequik

Sounds like just about what we do,Walmart and tractor supply,if you see the raisin suet at tractor supply Grab one or two and try em woodpeckers here seem to really enjoy,we are about evenly devided with male n female,as far as the Red Bellys not sure,I got Brackets from wild birds Unlimited so I Can mount my cages straight out and open side down plastic up keeps nusance birds away .I posted pics on earlier posts off feeders,Good luck N enjoy...............Art

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