It's for the birds

[Faulkner]

Mrs. Faulkner let me know we were running low on bird seed and bird suet cakes she likes to use and asked me to add them to my list of things next time I go to the local farmers co-op feed store. During the winter she likes to keep up a dozen or so bird feeders around the place, but once the foliage comes out in spring I take 'em all down but four that are just off the front porch. She likes for me to keep them up so she can watch them feed through the front porch window.

So I picked her up 40 lb bag of black oil sunflower seeds and was going to get a box of the suet cakes, but wow, they had really gone up in price. I remember I had stumbled across a YouTube video of someone making their own, so from memory I picked up some of the ingredients that I could recall from the video; lard, crunchy peanut butter, oats, and of course some birdseed. I dug through the trash barrel in the barn and dug out the empty trays from the used store bought suet cakes and reused them. I did the math on the cost of the ingredients for the home made cakes compared to the store bought and I came out to .48 cents vs $1.25, and it was simple enough to do.

So, the front porch is reserved for Mrs. Faulkner and her birds she likes to attract with seeds and watch and photograph. Here are a few pictures I took while sitting with her on the front porch.

A whole 'nother story is the back deck with the half dozen hummingbird feeders.

Summer Tanager

Northern Cardinal

Painted Bunting

 

[Puller]

Hmm, I don't know that I've ever seen a Summer Tanager before. When I see a red bird I've just assumed it was a cardinal.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

When I lived on the farm, I didn't normally feed the birds in warm weather. Then I noticed the ground hogs chowing down on the overflow sunflower seeds. I moved one feeder to the middle of the back yard, straight out from a window next to my Laz-y-boy.

I know, I know, I have proven that I'm not above hunting over bait! But in my defense, they started it! About 40 yards with a 17 HMR!

In the winter, I went through 20 suet cakes and 40 pounds of Black Sunflower seeds a year. I also planted Mexican Sunflower patches way out back.

Ivan

 

[Golddollar]

I remember I had stumbled across a YouTube video of someone making their own, so from memory I picked up some of the ingredients that I could recall from the video; lard, crunchy peanut butter, oats, and of course some birdseed. I dug through the trash barrel in the barn and dug out the empty trays from the used store bought suet cakes and reused them. I did the math on the cost of the ingredients for the home made cakes compared to the store bought and I came out to .48 cents vs $1.25, and it was simple enough to do.

]

But the real question is "What Michelin rating did the birds give the homemade suet cakes?"

 

[boykinlp]

Never seen a Painted Bunting before. They are beautiful! I wonder if they roam in S.C.?
Larry

 

[yaktamer]

Never seen a Painted Bunting before. They are beautiful! I wonder if they roam in S.C.?
Larry

Apparently just along the coast:

Painted Bunting - American Bird Conservancy.

 

[Faulkner]

But the real question is "What Michelin rating did the birds give the homemade suet cakes?"

Based on the acceptance of the first one I put out I'd say the rating his high. It lasted less than a day and a half.

Mrs. Faulkner caught this male cardinal and a female red-breasted grosbeak having a tizzy on the feeder where I'd put out the first home made suet cake, which she reports as an uncommon occurrence.

 

[SS336]

I really like the paint job on the painted bunting! Have never seen one but would like too.
Nature is amazing isn't it.

 

[Faulkner]

Never seen a Painted Bunting before. They are beautiful! I wonder if they roam in S.C.?
Larry

I really like the paint job on the painted bunting! Have never seen one but would like too.
Nature is amazing isn't it.

Although painted buntings are native to my area I had never seen one until just a few years ago. They seem to be very shy, don't come to feeders often, and despite their colorful appearance they are hard to spot in the dense foliage they typically like to hang out in.

They will respond to a call, so I downloaded an electronic call for a painted bunting and called this one out and it landed on a nearby gate and I was able to snap a few pictures. I've taken all kinds of wildlife pictures including bald eagles and hawks and owls and osprey, grizzly bears, wolfs and humpback whales, but painted buntings on my own property are one of the hardest critters I've every tried to get a picture of. A female painted bunting is even tougher.

 

[Greyman50]

Here's the female. Had them in Ga, might have followed me to Fl.lol

 

[Puller]

Here's the female. Had them in Ga, might have followed me to Fl.lolView attachment 574716

It's kind of small for my eyes.