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Northern Flicker Woodpecker photo taken by a friend (Original Post) William Seger Mar 2013 OP
Your friend is very talented. Curmudgeoness Mar 2013 #1
It has a resemblance to the red-bellied ladderback woodpeckers that visit here daily fadedrose Mar 2013 #2
Belive it or not, the flicker at my house Curmudgeoness Mar 2013 #4
I have 6 downy woodpeckers, 2 hairies, and the red-bellied pair` fadedrose Mar 2013 #5
What a beauty! CrispyQ Mar 2013 #3
Beautiful picture - good job fadedrose Mar 2013 #6

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
1. Your friend is very talented.
Thu Mar 7, 2013, 11:07 AM
Mar 2013

I was once told that flickers did not come to feeders. Tell that to this flicker or the one who is a daily visitor here.

fadedrose

(10,044 posts)
2. It has a resemblance to the red-bellied ladderback woodpeckers that visit here daily
Thu Mar 7, 2013, 11:50 AM
Mar 2013

They do come to feeders - BUT, only if you have what they want.

They love peanuts. I always mix a lot of peanuts with my birdseed. You can rub a bit of peanut butter on the trunk or branches of a tree.

They love suet even more. I buy the kind you fit into wire cages - appr. 4" x 4" x 1-1/2".
It's on sale a lot at Meijer's where I buy my groceries, but I make my own. Lots of recipes on the web for suet.

Mine is never the same. Basic ingredients is canned shortening - a meat/vegetable blend (only place that has it around here is Kroger's). Melt it and add flour, mesa harina (it's already cooked), cereals of any kind, peanut butter, bird seed. I throw in whatever is left over. Last batch I added Kellog's pop tarts cause no one wanted them. The downies, hairy, and red bellies love the suet, so do the blue jays, and sadly, so do the starlings. When the suet cools, shove it into a wax paper lined pan and cut into sections to fit.

You can buy suet at the grocers and hang it up somehow, but it should be rendered (melted down and reformed into blocks). Some recipes call for plain vegetable shortening.

I use the empty plastic containers I saved from when I was buying suet.

Good luck if you want to start.

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
4. Belive it or not, the flicker at my house
Thu Mar 7, 2013, 07:39 PM
Mar 2013

comes for shelled sunflower seeds. As does every other bird. I have stopped feeding anything else, and I am done with all the homemade suets and treats. They just being in the starlings and the raccoons. The shelled sunflowers disappear during the day and there is nothing left for the night creatures. I used to always feed suet, but after raccoons stole the third wire cage, I gave up. And that cage was nailed down and tied down with wire.....those raccoons are wily.

Birds that come for shelled sunflower seeds, besides the flicker:
Blue Jay
Cardinal
Chickadee
Doves
House finch
Goldfinches (and I have thistle out that is never touched)
Grackle
Junco
Nuthatch
Several Sparrow species
Titmouse

fadedrose

(10,044 posts)
5. I have 6 downy woodpeckers, 2 hairies, and the red-bellied pair`
Thu Mar 7, 2013, 07:59 PM
Mar 2013

and they prefer suet. They hang on the feeders all day.

I also feed shelled sunflowers and peanuts. The woodpeckers are picky, and I love them...

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