Mamaaaaaaa!

Bertram is in my seat!

These little rascals were born yesterday. The nest is up just a few inches from the back porch roof. I think it's the same mama who comes back to this nest every year, so I won't remove it.

I got up as high as I could but couldn't quite get aimed down into the nest because it's so close to the ceiling. Final baby count appears to be five, there were only three when I took these yesterda.

Such sweet pix, hart! Love the closeup of the nest materials too.

What type of birds are they?

We've got baby robins, catbirds and 3 varieties of woodpeckers around, as well as the disgustingly large cranky cowbirds, which were last seen harassing a poor Towhee.

Barb

Hart, They sure are cute. I have wrens nesting in my potting shed.

They're some kind of flycatcher. I can ask SO if you need to know exactly. Poor little mama, she's been busy running back and forth to fill those gaping beaks.

Joyce has this little windchime hanging from her back patio roof that has an eensy little birdhouse at the top, maybe 4 inches tall. She's had wrens nest inside there for the past two years.

Sweet babies...

Don't know about Barb, But I need to know exactly, what kind that is. This is one flycatcher that always visits my garden.

Wow - great photo, sally! I have flycatchers periodically, and have heard their songs, but they never have gotten close enough for me to be able to get such an excellent shot.

Thanks, hart, for the flycatcher ID. Glad they weren't cowbirds or starlings. (LOL) Too funny about the wrens nesting in that tiny birdhouse thing. Those wrens are soooo funny - we've got a local population, and they're so active, and SO noisy! Love 'em!

Barb

How cute is he?!??

Sally, I'm sorry, I forgot to post this. Marshall said it's either a Green Crested Flycatcher or a Kingbird. He did a lot of birdwatching with his dad when he was small so he's really good about identifying them. I'll see if I can get a photo of mama bird soon.

Thanks Barb. I saw this guy perching on my tomato cage and swooping down for something, coming back up to perch. I put some energy into watching for it and listening. Finally got the shot with patience and luck, like so many bird observations I guess!
hart--super! I never thought they'd nest on the house like that. Well, honestly I had no idea what kind of nest... My pic is G C F--the good clue is the 'cinnamon tail' If you get to see it fly away and swoop to land, you'l see that pretty cinnamon brown tail. Mostly I hear it go 'WHEEEP" and know its close.
Peewees and phoebes are also in the flycather group.
So wonder how the babies are this week. They grow fast! Had wrens, and they got so noisy for a few days then they were ready to leave the nest!

Hart............that's great shooting. Yep we would like to know how they do right up to the fledging. Keep shooting.

The babies fledged several days ago. I took this photo the day they took off. I was going nuts, thought one had fallen out of the nest and then I saw it flying around my birch tree with its mama.

Great photo hart! Glad all the babies were accounted for.

I have a parent/baby shot to share - nowhere near as good as yours, but it was so amazing that I was snapping away like crazy before they left, trying to get a decent shot.

This was a Pileated parent and young'un visiting my suet feeder Saturday afternoon - I could NOT believe my eyes. "Baby" is clinging to the baffle with one claw hooked into the top so it didn't slide down and off. They stayed there for about 5 minutes. Have seen the adult a number of times since then, but no "baby".

Wow..........that's great too. I have hunted all my life from Va. to New York State. I have seen only a few of the Pileated Wood Peckers. I know their voice and their pecking sounds and hear them often. To see one has been a treat for me.

Love that pic, we have pileated in the woods behind the house. I see them more often in the fall and spring when the suet feeders are out.

I will have really done something right when pileateds become a common backyard bird to me

Sally, you won't get them unless you have woodlands near your home. Not sure how much woodland you need but I believe it is a good bit. They like a suet feeder that is good sized and firmly fixed.

Thanks all for the comments - it was an amazing sight!

Doc, Holly & Sally,

Glad you all enjoyed the photo. I was so glad to be sitting near a window when they visited! We live in a very wooded area just outside DC proper, with lots of old trees , so we do get to hear and see them on a fairly regular basis. But this was the first time (in almost 25 years) that we got to see a parent with a baby. I have been leaving my suet feeder out during the summer for the last couple of years now, and it's been incredibly rewarding - the catbirds are very regular visitors, as are the downy, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers, in addition to wrens, chickadees, titmice and nuthatches. They seem to come especially frequently when they have babies to feed. My feeder is actually a regular sized one (square) so I was very surprised that the Pileated would make the effort to hang onto it when it visited!

Here's another shot of the parent nosing around a birdhouse on a nearby tree. He/she was really interested in the opening. ;-) That's about as far as it got though. Maybe it thought there was food inside there too? Whatever was going on, it was really entertaining!

I was thinking about keeping my suet feeder going this summer but Ric talked me out of it. Might have to rethink that. We really have a lot of different birds come in to the feeders.

DaylilyDiva- that really gives an idea of the size of that bird! assuming that a wren-size house.

I have a pair of pileateds living around here, I hear them calling to each other often and pecking in the woods nearby. Every now and then I'll see one pecking around or perched on top of the telephone pole in the yard and even less often at the suet feeders or peanut butter/corn meal balls I make.

It's always such a thrill to see one. I've never seen a baby or if I did, I just thought it was one of the smaller woodpeckers that come to the feeders. They are really big birds, Sally.

Holly - I did it sort of by inertia about 2 years ago, and the results have been so wonderful that I definitely keep it going all year. I use regular PLAIN suet (store bought, but no seeds or other additives) and I think that helps keep the "junk bird" population down a bit - plus thevisitors have to be clinging varieties, which also helps. My next-door neighbors have begun to do the same thing, but they use suet with seeds added, which the sparrows, etc, really want to get. (Their hanging orientation is also different, situated about 3 feet above their deck railings and easier to get to for the "non-clingers")

I know it's not the norm to leave suet out all year, but it's sooooo entertaining!

Sally - Oh YES - they are HUGE. That is definitely a wren/chickadee type birdhouse, and tomorrow (oops - later today) I'll go measure it and the baffle that the baby was clinging to, but off the top of my head, I'd say it's about 12" long.

Diane - Isn't their call incredible? We call it the "Jungle Bird" sound. LOL! When you see them, you can almost envision the missing link between birds and dinosaurs. They are just amazing to watch, and I was so lucky to be looking out the window when they visited the feeder.

Seems hard to find the plain suet cakes, but I've read they're better. They seem to last longer--after all you get more suet in them.

You may have seen this pic earlier this spring. I think they are the largest woodpecker. The wing span is just incredible. You should see them moving from tree to tree they fly with their wings tucked at an angle.
I was at a bird watching program and they talked about different ways to hang suet so only clinging birds can get it. Maybe your neighbors don't care who comes to dine, we don't but I fixed my Dad's so only the clingers could get his. I had just a piece of chicken wire nailed up on the telephone pole out back but the cakes kept disappearing, we think the squirrels were talking them. So I bought a holder that snaps shut and put it up. The suet cakes started to last a lot longer. Sally check with the butcher shop for suet, years ago when we raised a few pigs and Ric butchered them, he would put large pieces of fat in the freezer for us to use in those chicken wire feeders. Guess that was why we only did it till summer when the fat would have gone rancid, I know you can cook it down and mix it so that it doesn't, I have some recipes and a book around here somewhere that tells you how to make your own suet cakes. Ric helped JR make some a month or two ago with some fat from a ham, maybe added some peanut butter and bird seed they had a great time.

sally,

Yes, it IS hard to find the plain suet cakes, and I have always felt the birds don't need all the other additives that make the other cakes attractive to the 'junk' birds (sorry, no disrespect intended!) LOL.

I have found mine at Southern States, and have also seen them at Merrifield Garden Center as well as Fischer's Hardware in Springfield, VA (which I know doesn't help you!). I'll check the batch I just got yesterday at the SS in Richmond, and see if I can find out where they might be available.

I started my suet feeding career using fat trimmings right from the butchers, but this is a much cleaner way of doing it. I also learned from a friend to leave the plastic container on it when I put it in the feeder. It keeps a lot from falling on the ground, and also, if I position it just right, the open side faces ME, as you can see in my photo. When I'd slide just the suet cake into the feeder, 9 times out of 10, the birds, especially the smaller ones would be on the other side of the feeder, out of my view.

Hi Holly, yes, I remember that great photo - I think I commented on it at the time.

Over the years I also have adapted my suet-feeding methods to the current one, which seems to work well. The butcher fat did go rancid in the summer, while the commercial mix doesn't seem to, even in 90-degree heat.

The (less than $10) feeder I have now has a sliding copper-colored "roof" which protects it on both top edges from non-clinging birds (like CROWS!!!) perching on the top of the shepherd's crook. It also dangles from the hanging cord, so it moves a bit, which the non-clingers don't like too much either. I had another setup before we got the more decorative iron poles that actually was better - a hollow galvanized pole, with a plant hanger arm in the top which projected out from the pole at least 10", again, making it harder for opportunistic, clever non-clingers (blue jays!) to reach it from the pole. But this current setup seems to work. The occasional blue jay will visit, but they don't stay long.

I know there are ones that position the suet underneath a covered top, which is the type our neighbors have, but the problem with their set up is that it's on a very short post sitting only about 3 feet above their deck railing. The sparrows figured this out early (they use the cakes with seed in them). They'd gather underneath, and one acrobat would jump/fly up and peck at the suet, and the rest on the ground would enjoy what fell down!

I've had to put a baffle below my feeder after seeing a rogue squirrel go right up the (very narrow) pole and go after the suet. Actually, when I first began putting suet out years ago in one of the regular cage-type feeders, our feeder disappeared and I found it way back in the yard...down by a tree where raccoons were living at the time. So much for THAT plan! I think/hope the very narrow poles discourage the raccoons from climbing. I would never say it won't happen though! LOL!

I've seen dedicated Pileated woodpecker feeders at the Wild Bird centers, and thought they were a great, albeit, pricey, way to attract these amazing birds. Hmmm - maybe THAT could be a new project for Ric this summer if no saws were involved? ;-)

All woodpeckers are more comfortable when there is a place to prop their tails. If you look in Duncraft web site catalog you can see a simple design for the smaller woodpeckers made just for the smaller woodpeckers. The same design would be easy to inlarge for the much larger Pileated Woodpecker. The mesh making the suet box should be larger too. This will let some things into the suet box you may not desire but if you want Pileateds you have to make space for their bills to take a bite. I have seen large commercial suet feeders that were more or less not considering the larger mesh required and that had to small a tail prop provision too. Making one should save a bunch of dollars for the maker....and it may be better than commercial feeders. It likely could look like a three foot paddle. Think....where would that tail be if your big bird is hanging onto the bottom of the suet box?

When placing it think big. That size bird will not enter into the interior of a tree or bush unless there is a lot of open space it can work through to get to the feeder.

doc, I think what you're describing in the Duncraft catalog is what I saw in both large and small sizes at the store. They were definitely constructed with a length of board below the feeder for tail-propping.

Good tips- esp about making it less accessible to the trash starlings etc!!!!