[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Suet preferences of certain birds
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Suet preferences of certain birds
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 16:56:37 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi C-birders,
A random observation from the feeders recently: For a while, I kept the
suet feeder stocked with raisin or fruit-n-nut flavored suet cakes, and
was getting frequent visits from Grey Catbirds. When I returned from my
recent drive to Michigan and back, the last of that was gone, so I
replaced it with peanut butter flavored suet. Very soon thereafter, I saw
my first Brown Thrasher for the yard (species #28 since June); it was a
regular customer over the following week or so until that suet, too, ran
out. During that time, I did not see a single Catbird. I replaced that
with my only remaining suet cake (hot pepper) yesterday, and have seen
neither species at the feeder in the short time since.
So my question, for those of you who have suet feeders: Do Grey Catbirds
and Brown Thrashers show preferences at your feeders for suet with fruit
and peanut butter respectively? Or is it just a coincidence, perhaps that
the catbirds stopped visiting while I was away and the feeder emptied,
and the thrasher just happened to wander into my neighborhood when I
first used the peanut butter? And has anyone noticed other patterns of
preference for different flavored varieties of suet, or will just plain
raw suet from the butcher attract all the same species that the
elaborately flavored commercial suet cakes will?
Thanks,
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/