Participant Photo: Downy Woodpecker at homemade suet feeder

I was trying to discourage grackles, starlings, and house sparrows from my suet feeders, so I tried boring out holes in a log and packing it full of fatty feed. This little female Downy was one of my first customers and she didn’t mind a bit that I was walking around the yard. I did succeed in attracting a lot of woodpeckers this year. Unfortunately, the undesirable birds didn’t find it as challenging as I had hoped.