Standing Guard on the Suet Nuggets

My first cup of coffee has grown cold and not particularly pleasant to drink as I've been outside, standing guard on the batches of suet nuggets that I put out for the chickadees. The blue jays got an entire new block of fresh suet and seed yesterday and are currently demolishing it. However, I have noticed that the flicker chases them off the block and gets to eat its fill, which is very encouraging.

However, the birds watch us in our big cage, aka, the cabin. As soon as I show up in the downstairs kitchen to make coffee, several blue jays promptly arrive to sit in the bare Big Leaf Maple outside the downstairs windows.

While the kettle boils for coffee, I put out the first batch of unfrozen suet and seed bits, broken up to a size the chickadees can pick up and fly off with, to eat in peace in the big firs or to stash. As always, one chickadee arrived very promptly. I think that particular bird keeps an eye out for us as well.

Yesterday, four chickadees were arriving for suet bits, which were put out at intervals all day long. This morning, three were sitting on the big cage all at once, waiting for the suet bits to be dropped.

I noticed that the small container of sunflower seeds had only three seeds left in it, so I put out a bit more seed and saw one of the chickadees pick up a seed and start pecking away at it while sitting on a bar of the cat cage. So we have at least one chickadee picking up the sunflower seeds. I expect the blue jays got the rest of the tub seeds put out yesterday afternoon.

In the meantime, I also did a few steps towards to larch small bird feeder. Jays, being clever corvids, have figured out how to get to the edges of the suet in that feeder. They hog it, and the nuthatch pair can't get in to feed. If I walk towards the feeder, the jays leave and the nuthatches immediately hop down from above or fly in and start feeding.

If the nuthatches would pick up suet nuggets like the chickadees do, I could ensure that they get enough for the day and for stashing as well. A nuthatch will come right up beside me when I'm putting out a fresh suet block in the Ponderosa pine, but it won't take food from my hand or come to where the chickadees are getting their suet bits, protected by either Mike or myself.

Still, there are worse ways to spend some of life. The chickadees will now sit on the top of the cat cage beside me, certain that more suet is about to be put out.

Time for a new cup of coffee and time to knit more of my Lopi sweater. I could read all day, having found another lovely series of detective books of which I've now only read two but I read one late into the night and it's not the most productive way to spend all day as well.

POSTSCRIPT

I figured out how to feed the nuthatches. They love sunflower seeds. This week bought a small bag to add to the variety of seed the birds are getting. But the nuthatches only go to the suet blocks and are getting chased off by the chickadees and blue jays. I dug through thigh-deep, now frozen snow to get to the Ponderosa pine so I don't keep putting my back out trying to wade through very deep, now frozen-on-top snow on the hillside.

I also saw that one nuthatch would get some food if I stood beside the feeder but the female would get none.She would go from branch to branch but not get on the feeder. So I decided to try tipping a batch of sunflower seeds onto the bottom of the small bird feeder where they would stick to the snow. For that I had to drop into almost waist-high snow and I wasn't actually sure I'd get back out. I used larch branches to pull myself forward and tipped the container into the wide metal bottom of the small bird feeder.

Well, the birds didn't wait for me to extricate myself before they were flying in, picking up a seed, and taking off. Back in the house, I watched the nuthatches flying in and out with seeds as the birds came in, picked up a seed, and left to peck it open and eat the tasty treat inside. All the little birds are taking the seeds now, in rotation. So that issue is solved. I will dig a path to the feeder later today so I can take out a daily handful of sunflower seeds and make sure the nuthatches get their share. We will probably pick up a bag of different types of bird seed to put out the same way to make sure we aren't just feeding them sunflower seeds.