Putting out suet in April was a mistake and I'll keep doing it anyway

Elizabeth Murphy · 2026-10-30T14:20:05.080869+00:00

Everyone in my local bird group says you pull suet by March or the starlings wreck it, and I get why, but I've kept one cage up through the last two springs here in Peoria and the woodpeckers still hit it daily. Back then I followed the calendar like it was law, suet gone by April 1, hummingbird nectar out exactly on Mother's Day, feeders scrubbed on a rigid Sunday schedule. Now I just watch the yard, and last spring a pair of downy woodpeckers brought a fledgling to the cage in late May, so the birds never read that schedule anyway. The tradeoff is real though, I'm scraping greasy suet off the baffle more like twice a week instead of once. My neighbor swears the heat turns it rancid and I should switch to no-melt, but the birds ignored the no-melt cake I tried in 2023. So how late in spring do you all keep suet going, or am I the odd one out on this?

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Putting out suet in April was a mistake and I'll keep doing it anyway | Backyard Birdwatching - Babble Community