Woodpeckers O’Plenty: Suet Feeders
Yellow-Bellied Woodpecker
Here at Larrapin we’ve kept suet feeders going every winter and spring for years now. The result is a cornucopia of woodpeckers! Since the feeders are outside the kitchen window, they provide lots of entertainment while doing dishes. Some, like the red-belly woodpecker above, are very bold and can be easily photographed while I lean over the sink.
Pine Creeper...ok, his rump anyway
Others are notoriously difficult to catch on film, like the Pine Creeper above. Not only does he blend with the pine tree bark, he is very, very fast and always in motion. Usually he’s creeping around eating the bits of suet the nuthatch stashes behind the pine bark!
Female Downy Woodpecker, Our darling...
Isn’t she sweet! In this photo above she discovered the suet cage door had been left open and couldn’t believe her luck! Thankfully we latched the feeder before the suet block fell out. If not, at least one of our weiner dogs would have mysteriously gained five pounds overnight and then pooped birdseed for a week!
My special darling, the Carolina Wren
All kinds of birds take turns at the blocks, like the Carolina Wrens.
Some are a bit piggish at the suet...
These guys above just eat and eat! I believe I’ve read that ‘eating like a bird’ translates to eating about half your body weight every day or so…
Pine Creeper
There he is again, the flash that is the Pine Creeper. Quick, snap the picture!! OK, so it’s a little blurry, but he’s blurry even in real life because he’s always moving so fast.
Traffic Jam
Everyone wants the suet block for their own. But sometimes if you are a little junco you have to just jump on a grab a bite because Big Mr. Piggish could be here all day! Nevermind that he’s staring you down…
There are only two woodpeckers that do not show up on the suet blocks: Flickers and Pileated. (Although the Flicker has been seen on the ground under the suet feeder picking up chips that fell down…) Next week I’ll post what I saw a whole family of FIVE flickers happily eating at Larrapin. Some people call it a ‘trash tree’ but after watching the birds’ delight, I never will!
—A Larrapin Garden www.larrapin.us
Posts most wednesdays & weekends. Don’t miss any—you can subscribe by Email here. You can also get bonus links and recipes by “liking” our Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/aLarrapinGarden. Geesh, we’re even on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LarrapinGarden. Thanks for stopping by—leave a comment as to what is going on in YOUR winter backyard…
Snow days at Larrapin Garden
The blue chairs in snow
We finally got snow last at Larrapin! Thursday morning dawned with a perfect three inches of crunchy powder on the ground. It was *so* cold I didn’t get out to tromp around as much as usual. But dashed out to snap a few snow pics later that afternoon.
Ada in her element
Ada the farm dog loves, loves snow and appears totally immune to cold. She sprawls in the snow as it it were a fluffly summer yard. In rain, she’ll hide out in the heated workshop where her bed is, but in snow, she’s outside, lounging.
Hibernating Chickens
Then chickens, on the other hand, have just decided to hunker down till spring. They wouldn’t even come outside (at first) to scratch grain (aka “crack” to the hens…). They finally emerged once the temps came up this weekend.
Xmas tree, acting as fig shield...
Underneath the old Christmas tree, the cut back stems of the fig are hopefully cozy and protected. They have a blanket of shredded leaves too.
The sleeping garden...
Underneath that winter sky and layer of snow, there’s a green, green springtime just waiting to appear. And the new/recycled garden bench is ready, as the perfect spot to watch.
As deep winter as it looks, it’s not that long till indoor seed -starting time! This worksheet-calendar over at Organic Gardening magazine looks really handy, and lists some of my favorite veggies. You customized the dates using your spring-frost date.
http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/seed-starting-chart
And for an online version, here’s a quick and easy calendar for some basic veggies thanks to Skippy’s Vegetable Garden, one of my favorite garden blogs. You’ll find it here:
http://bioarray.us/Skippy’s%20planting%20calendar.html
Enjoy!
—A Larrapin Garden www.larrapin.us
Posts most wednesdays & weekends. Don’t miss any—you can subscribe by Email here. You can also get bonus links and recipes by “liking” our Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/larrapin.garden. Geesh, we’re even on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LarrapinGarden. Thanks for stopping by—leave a comment as to what is going on in YOUR winter garden beds!
Bad video of a gorgeous bird! (Pileated Woodpecker)
Hi all! I’m still without internet at home per the prior post…but the local coffeeshop is getting quite used to me working here…even when I’m actually working rather than playing with the garden blog! (Thank you, Perk on Wedington…)
I took this choppy, grainy video at super-zoom out a window. Then tried iMovie for the first time and got that weird “My First Project” frame. But being over my head tech-wise is nothing new for me.
So here is our big, beautiful Pileated woodpecker going to town on what must be a delicious spot in a knotty oak tree. Enjoy it…he sure was!
—A Larrapin Garden www.larrapin.us
Posts most wednesdays & weekends. Don’t miss any—you can subscribe by Email here. You can also get bonus links and recipes by “liking” our Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/larrapin.garden. We’re even on Twitter athttp://twitter.com/LarrapinGarden. Thanks for stopping by—leave a comment and share what birds are in your backyard this holiday season!
Woodpeckers are back
Once the weather gets cold, the woodpeckers reappear on the suet feeder. With the chilly week we’ve had, it’s rare to look out the kitchen window at the suet feeder and NOT see a woodpecker on it. Above, our adored red-head, the Yellow-Bellied Woodpecker. Occasionally, at the right angle, it’s visible how he got his name.
This tiny Downey Woodpecker has no trouble running off the big guys to get his lunch. They look so small compared to the Yellow-Bellied!
And here’s our 2009 pride and joy: an immature Hairy Woodpecker. It’s so fun to see the young ones figure out the suet feeder. Between them all, they are eating us out of house and home and making homemade suet cakes is on the agenda for the next few days.
Here’s another woodpecker post with pics over at the old blogger site:
Another juvenile woodpecker: a sapsucker??
Which of your favorite birds are showing up this time of year? Please leave a comment and let me know! (Bloggers just love comments….) 🙂
Read MoreSusanna: May I borrow your headlamp?
When I had the delight of touring my friend Susanna’s garden a while back, she told me one of those stories only another passionate digger can appreciate. Seems that in winter, by the time she got off work and got home to cover the things in the winter beds, it was already pitch dark. So a friend got her a headlamp and they would laugh at the sight of the little headlamp out flickering in the yard as Susanna tended her leafy flock in the darkness….
Read More
