Woodpeckers - smarter than I gave them credit for
340588
Due to an abundance of grackles who consume every ounce of seed and suet, I bought two of these suet logs.  We have at least six different species of woodpeckers here including Pileateds.  The downy and hairy woodpeckers searched a bit and eventually found the suet holes on the underside of the log but .. there were some woodpeckers who did not seem to like having to crawl under the log to get to the suet so .. they drilled through the top of the log to reach the suet.  Now I have two holes all the way through one of the logs.  I actually think it is funny and did not know woodpeckers were that clever.  So far the grackles have not discovered the holes go all the way through and I'm not telling them.
Adding more to this review:  The Pileated Woodpeckers do not like or use this feeder.  The other woodpeckers have pecked into all the holes in the logs but at least they are enjoying it - as are the chickadees and nuthatches.
3064271
Crazy.  It's working in our yard.  We live in the city and I had two hawks that were harassing the mourning doves and they've moved on.  I had an owl that would who-who for hours in the middle of the night.  He's moved on.

I've had squirrels rip apart my outdoor patio cushion to make their nests in the past and that was a lot of financial damage.  Even the squirrels are staying away.

For years, I've had pigeons nesting in my trees and their poo was always everywhere and they're gone.  I had Grackles and crows fighting  for territory, or tearing apart the squirrels nest to steal their babies..and they are gone

interestingly...the sparrows, finches, cardinals and chick-a-dees are still coming to our feeders.  But, not as much as they use to.  Also, I haven't seen the doves all week.

I move them around and have them on pvc poles.  The wind lets them gently spin.
4426438
I bought 2 of these because there are a lot of white-breasted nuthatches, red-breasted nuthatches, chickadees, downy woodpeckers, & tufted titmice that frequent feeders in my yard. The product seems to be well made (much better than some I've seen in local stores). Other than the top piece of wood, it's held together with staples but I didn't see any staples sticking out or something that would make me think it would fall apart or be dangerous to a bird trying to live in it. The surface of the wood is a bit rough in areas, but I think it's fine & it might help the nuthatches grip onto it easier. The wood on the inside of the box is smoother. There are no residents in them yet but 5 minutes after putting one up in my backyard a chickadee stuck his head into it to investigate. Also, few (evil) starlings have been trying to see if they can fit thru the hole so I recommend getting a copper guard in case a large bird or squirrel tries to remodel the entrance. In conclusion, I really like the houses & I think the birds are definitely going to use them.
4632725
Well made construction and great design for suet feeder. I was hoping the three acorn woodpeckers that visit my yard would try it, but it's been a few weeks and no go. They like the peanuts instead. I will move around in yard to see if any interest from the finches and woodies. Again, very durable and well made, my birds seem to prefer the old style suet feeder instead of this one for some reason.
2382423
Well, this scared me, but birds are smarter, I guess. Unbelievably, the  birds figured this out in 2 days. What a waste of money! Yesterday, I was in the pool and looked up and a bird was sitting looking at the owl with a fig hanging out of his mouth. I am now trying wind chimes.
1586073
Took my Woodpecker a little while to figure this out but now he seems to come every day to feed on it.  Very well made.  Even the squirrel checked it out but Suet is not on his menu.
2047326
I replaced my standard suet feeder with this item earlier this afternoon. The local chickadee and nuthatch population accepted the new feeder within one minute of my setting it out (timed on my watch). However, I was wondering what some of my larger visitors would think of the new feeder. They were used to performing all kinds of gyrations to eat suet when the offerings grew small. It only took 15 minutes for visits to be recorded by both species, and they both seemed to enjoy perching straight up and using the tail prop. I'll be curious to see if the local pileated woodpeckers become more frequent visitors. Regardless, a good purchase.

I noticed a few people had trouble getting birds to accept their suet feeders. My only comment is location, location, location. My feeders are on the edge of the northern forest and give the birds protection from the local hawks.

I have added a photo I took this afternoon to the product images showing the tail prop being used by a Hairy Woodpecker.

Folks have asked if Pileated Woodpeckers are willing to use this feeder. The answer is definitely yes ... I have added a pic of my Pileated pair on the tail prop feeder at the same time.
2298036
I love this book. This isn't a book set up for ornithologists. This is a book designed with the non-bird expert in mind. Not that it's dumbed down in any way, far from it, but it makes finding and identifying species easy based on where you saw a bird and what it looks like.

For the expert birder, there's plenty to love here, too. The index takes you directly to specific birds. The pictures show multiple pictures when birds look differently as immature or breeding. The maps are very useful in helping narrow the exact species. And having this book cover only Western birds means that you'll likely spend less time searching for a particular bird.

Although I read the digital galley and wasn't able to take the guide into the field, I was able to go back home and correctly answer this question: Hey Mom! What's that bird called? The bonus podcasts are very helpful.

I highly recommend this new edition for both dedicated or aspiring bird watchers and for parents who want to provide some more in depth and accurate information about birds found in their area.
4188216
(I own this, although I don't remember where I purchased it).  This suet feeder will NOT completely prevent blackbirds from feeding - no suet feeder that allows access to large woodpeckers will do that.  What it does, is prevent blackbirds from swarming onto your feeder and eating up all the suet.  Because blackbirds don't like to cling upside-down, the only way they can access the suet is to fly up under the feeder and snatch a beakful of suet, then land somewhere else.  They'll repeat the process (and it actually provides considerable amusement), but they can't clean out the feeder and gobble everything up.  I've seen starlings and grackles use this method, and mockingbirds, which can actually hover, are particularly skilled at it.  My suet is lasting much, much longer in this feeder than it did in the upright one.

Birds that don't mind clinging upside-down (which I can verify use my feeder) are downy woodpeckers, carolina wrens, nuthatches, and chickadees.  My redbellied woodpeckers are more interested in peanuts and sunflower seeds, and rarely bothered with the suet even when I used an upright feeder.  I do not think this feeder would be comfortable for large woodpeckers to use, however, just as the smaller upright suet feeders aren't comfortable for them.  You'd want a much larger feeder for large woodpeckers to be able to cling and feed easily.
815461
Woodpeckers really seem to like this, and so do many other birds. I purchased to keep the woodpeckers distracted from pecking holes in my house..it is working so far.
994468
They are "as expected" in terms of construction, etc.  However, I placed all 6 discs under a canopy that a pair of birds were insisting on building a next.  1 in each corner, and the other 2 near the middle.  Perhaps these birds are just too obsessed with this location, because they went ahead and built another nest within 4 inches of one of the discs in the corner.  I'm sure during windier days, the disc actually hits the nest - it's pretty comical.  I've given up, and have just moved everything out from under the nest so it doesn't get crapped on.  I suppose once eggs hatch, the nestlings will be habituated to these discs, and consider them family.
1166031
I had been feeding woodpeckers from a basic cage suet holder. I put it out in the winter, and have had regular visits from downy woodpeckers, nuthatches, and various other suet-loving birds. Since the feeder was so popular, I decided on this plastic feeder with the tail prop. I have a regular seed feeder on a pole in the backyard.  My suet feeder is on the side of my house, hanging on a metal extention holder off the railing of a small deck off a first floor room. In the summer I feed hummingbirds from this holder, and in the winter I feed the birds that stay for the winter.  The location is perfect since we use the room as our TV room, and get a great show, summer and winter.

When I first put it out, it took a few days to attract visitors.  I left the old wire suet holder out also so the birds would get the idea, and it worked. Not long after they were all over the new one. The recycled plastic is very durable, yet has the appearance of wood. An occasional visit from a pesky squirrel and raccoon only left a few hardly-noticable chew marks. They could not penetrate this plastic...it is very hard. I took the feeder in at night for a while to deter visits from the raccoon.

One person asked about how protected the suet is from the weather. It is not that protected, but find this to be a non-issue since suet has such a waxy consistency, rain or snow does not really harm this type of food, and the birds are not bothered when it is a little wet.

The larger woodpeckers, such as the red-headed woodpecker, and northern flicker have come occasionally, although they are even more shy than the other smaller woodpeckers, and we have to remain very still to enjoy their visits.  I believe the tail prop has encouraged the larger varieties to visit more often since they can be supported with the tail prop rather than hanging loosely from the basic cage-type feeder.  My 15-year-old son managed to get a picture of a northern flicker with his I-phone through the glass door. Would have loved to share the picture, but Amazon is only supporting videos, and the pic will not download.

I highly recommend this feeder; it is durable, well made, and the birds love it.
409372
There are two kinds of birds: nerdy birds and cool birds.  Eagles, cardinals and robins are cool birds as they have superior characteristics and nerdy birds, well they dont.  In this book, Nerdy Bird likes to play video games, read and read about video games.  He tries to be friends with the cool birds but they're mean to him and hes left all alone.  He then realizes how lonely he is.  Suddenly he hears a voice and finds a group of other nerdy birds who invite him to join them.  He now has more friends than the cool birds and when another new bird moved into the area, Nerdy Bird was there to welcome it to the neighborhood.
This book has so much potential for discussion.  The difference between what is cool and what is nerdy is reflected in both the writing and the illustrations.  In the illustrations, the cool birds are viewed as power figures with their chests are puffed out, their bodies are extensive and their beaks pointed sharply out while the nerdy birds were short, stocky and all of them are wearing eyeglasses.  In the writing, the nerdy birds use everyday language while the cool birds speak in short sentences and use offensive tones.  I also questioned the concept of what one person believed was superior is not always superior to everyone as a whole.  Cardinal was good as posing, to me that seemed self-centered but to others that characteristic might mean that they liked to perform.  Robin liked to insult worms and then eat them.  What kind of character does that make Robin bird?  What about the nerdy birds?  Could they be cool and nerdy at the same time?  I really enjoyed this story and the possibilities that are within it.
1313779
Our backyard birds love it.  This morning I forgot to put a new one in and there were two northern jays, a woodpecker, a bushtit scout, and a robin-like bird (towhee?) all waiting for me to come out and replace it.  Glad I got the multi pack.
4022908
All of my favorite scenes in the Harry Potter movies involve owls.  Now that I live in the woods, I can hear owls hooting almost every night, but how can I go about identifying them?  Is there someone out there who is even nuttier about owls than I am?  Someone who has actually spent nights out in the woods with a flashlight and camera, identifying these mysterious birds?  The answer of course, is yes.  Jim Burns, author of "North American Owls" doesn't write a 'mere' natural history text about these (mostly) nocturnal predators.  He also narrates his journeys of discovery, from Alaska to southern Arizona, usually accompanied by Deva and the bumbles (his wife and two boys).  His stories sing a mysterious, mythical, even mystical nocturne.  He familiarizes us with "the more nebulous and mysterious aspects of [the owls'] darker side."

Owls are creatures of wisdom, harbingers of death.  Even a naturalist of "reputed backcountry acumen and skill feels a little shaky thrashing around in the dead of night chasing ghosts."  The chapter on Long-Eared Owls is written as a poem, and many of the narratives of other North American owls lapse into blank verse.

The book's photographs equal the beauty and strangeness of the text.  One photograph of a Short-Eared Owl shows its head rotated so that its beak is pointed at 'two-o'clock.'  I knew owls could swivel their heads around to look over their backs, but I had no idea they could rotate them like the hands of a clock.  I laugh every time I come across this photo.  The photos also capture the predatory nature of owls:  bloody bits of rabbit and mouse dangling from their claws and beaks.

The author, Jim Burns, has been photographing birds for over 20 years and many of the pictures in this book are his.  I am guessing from the text that his favorite photograph is one he took of a Northern Pygmy-Owl, silhouetted against a hazy solar disk, mouse clutched in talons--more art than identification photograph.  My own favorite is of a soaring Snowy Owl, because that's the only owl I've ever seen, gliding down the road ahead of me on a cold December evening.  I swear its wings spanned the entire width of the state highway.  Big.  Silent.  Snow-colored.  Eerie.  A visitor from the Arctic that we Michiganders are rarely privileged to see.

This book also contains sidebars with identification features, habits, and range/habitat maps.  A CD is included with the book that contains the vocalizations of all nineteen owls included in the text.  My only complaint is that the author did not include his own vocalizations on each track in order to identify the owl that is hooting, screeching, or barking.  You have to follow the track numbers in order to identify the owl--a small complaint indeed, concerning a very fine book.

Incidentally, one of the things I learned from this book is that Harry Potter's owl Hedwig is a MALE Snowy Owl.
1361991
I used to have woodpecker problem at my house. After installing this product, I haven't seen any woodpecker near my house.
1656554
I have several of these now. Very impressed with the design. I had no idea we have so many woodpeckers here in the Dallas area, but they've come out of the woodwork (trees) to get some suet. The squirrels here in Texas are almost the size of house cats, so they cannot feed from this feeder at all. The will get on it and swing around, go around in circles on the outside, try to chew thru the wire, you name it, BUT they cannot get one bite. Also the mourning doves, pigeons, blackbirds get really frustrated as well. They will land on top and try to stretch their necks to get inside, but end up loosing their grip and just go to the ground. Most large birds and squirrels give up after a bit. The little birds have gotten so used to it now that theres a constant flow in and out. Also I make DIY seed cakes out of sunflower hearts and gelatin, so its a nice no mess feeder. I have 3 in the front yard and 2 in the back. Going to add maybe a couple more when winter comes, if I get more birds from up north traveling south. Right now with 5 and just a regular bird feeder, I have lots of bird traffic. I did notice in the rain sometimes, there is a small drip leak in the middle where the screw is on the lid, and I fixed that by putting a few rubber washers on before I close the lid, not an issue anymore. We have some big rain storms here and the food always remains dry, and its also fun to watch the birds come in for a meal, and to dry off and take shelter in these feeders.