Blue Jays, Cardinals, Chickadees Oh My – Suet Mixes to Attract Birds

We feed the birds sunflower seed and suet year around.  The previous homeowners did not and it took some birds a couple years to get used to coming here for lunch.

Cardinals, chickadees, woodpeckers, sparrows and finches showed up immediately (along with squirrels and chipmunks) but blue jays are only now coming regularly, 4 years after we moved here.

Blue Jay in Cornell Labs Article

Some bird lovers view jays as pests, driving away other birds.  We’ve actually found that’s not so; in fact, female cardinals are the most aggressive birds here!  In our old home we put out whole in-shell peanuts sometimes which the jays loved.  I enjoyed watching them come, get a peanut, crack it open, eat and repeat.  So far no one here has tried peanuts.

Our Kalamazoo birds are fussy!  They like sunflower seed and go through a feeder full every week in the winter.  They like suet even more – as long as the suet is the right type.

They like Cherry Crunch.

And Blue Berry Twist

.

Nuts and Berries is OK too.

Their favorite is Orange Burst. Orioles enjoy the orange suet too and sometimes robins or red winged blackbirds come skittishly to the feeder for a quick nibble.

Plain suet or suet with seeds (and no berries!) is a dud.  During the winter the birds go through about 6 cakes a week!  We visit a bird supply store about 50 miles away when we get low on suet and stock up.

Our cats are blase about birds. They get animated for bunnies, squirrels and chipmunks but they don’t have enough energy to get excited about the umpteen bazillion birds we have every day.  Good thing since we want the birds to come!