My old Knoxville house had 2 large maples about 15 feet from the front windows. We used to trowel our Birdy Butter right onto the tree bark at chest height, which kept them off the ground so they were less of a target for enterprising kitties. The only down side was that it left permanent greasy stains on the tree bark. I'm battling very aggressive raccoons at my Kingston house so to keep them from feeding near the house, I don't use the tree method. I now hang a homemade feeder (14" length of roughed up 2x4 with numerous 1" diam x 1/2" deep holes to hold the birdy butter) off a shepherd's hook. I'm using a variant of Martha Sargent's PB/lard/flour/cornmeal/oatmeal/sugar suet mix and am doing land-office business, plus I can bring the feeder in at night to discourage the coons (who stand up, growl, bark, and feint as if they intend to advance on me when I ask them to leave the porch; unacceptable!). Happy birddays to you. Liz Singley Kington, TN ------- Original Message ------- From : oligobird@xxxxxxxxxxx[mailto:oligobird@xxxxxxxxxxx] Sent : 11/7/2007 6:15:45 PM To : tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Cc : Subject : FW: [TN-Bird] Homemade suet on logs While in Texas last winter, we made a stop at the famous DeWitt garden. Aft= er seeing many great birds, including three Brown Jay, we observed one of t= heir feeder setups. Kay asked me to salvage some old dead logs in the yard = when we got back. Then she followed the DeWitt recipe (5 lbs plain white co= rnmeal, 4 cups peanut butter, 4 cups melted lard - not Crisco. Melt the lar= d and pour it onto the other stuff and mix well.) We spread this mixture in= to crevices on the loosely stacked logs, with one upright log in the middle= . When we go out in the morning, there is a chorus of demands for the suet,= loudest being the Red-bellied Woodpecker, and others like the Downy Woodpe= ckers flutter around close by. Kay has observed 16 species making use of t= his feature: Northern Cardinal, Rufous-sided Towhee, Downy Woodpecker, Blue= Jay, White-throated Sparrow, Hairy Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina C= hickadee, Common Grackle, American Crow, Red-headed Woodpecker, White-breas= ted Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-rumped = Warbler, Northern Flicker. Maybe not all were eating the suet, but they wer= e certainly making use of things associated with it, at least. We are sure = the racoons clean up the left-overs. Ralph and Kay Brinkhurst, Lebanon, Wil= son Co. =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________ =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________