What’s That Chicken at Your Suet Feeder?


Suet is a good way to draw quite a lot of birds to your yard within the winter. To determine who’s who, use this information to work your approach by the standard suspects. And to maintain enhancing your ID expertise, remember to obtain our free Audubon chicken information app

Chickadee 

In case your thriller chicken is tiny and spherical, with a grayish again, black cap, white cheeks, and a black chin, you have bought your self a chickadee. Within the northern states, it might be a Black-capped Chickadee. From Philadelphia southward, it might be the look-alike Carolina Chickadee. Out west, it may be a Mountain Chickadee or Chestnut-backed Chickadee. They are all quite common yard birds.

Black-capped Chickadee. Jeff O'Keeffe/Audubon Photography Awards

Tufted Titmouse

Now, in case your chicken is tiny and nearly all grey, with a small crest and a blot of black above its squat beak, a Tufted Titmouse has stopped by your suet. A well-known yard chicken within the japanese U.S., the Titmouse will also be recognized by the rusty wash below its wings. 

Tufted Titmouse. Michele Black/Great Backyard Bird Count

White-Breasted Nuthatch 

A bit bigger than the titmouse and chickadee is the White-breasted Nuthatch. This chicken has a white-to-gray breast, slate again, and black on its cap and nape. Additionally notable: their lengthy, skinny beaks and tendency to scale bushes and dangle from feeders whereas the other way up. 

White-breasted Nuthatch. Michele Black/Great Backyard Bird Count

Carolina Wren  

Onerous to confuse this little brown chicken with the others right here, however Carolina Wrens will fortunately swing by a suet feeder. These chatty birds could be shortly recognized by the brilliant white traces above their eyes, a barely curved beak, and their upright tails, which they flick about as they busily hop round. 
Carolina Wren. Gary Mueller/Great Backyard Bird Count

 

Downy Woodpecker 

Woodpeckers are among the most frequent suet visitors, and the Downy Woodpecker might be essentially the most frequent. The smallest of the North American woodpeckers, it has black and white markings on its face, wings, and again. Males additionally have a little bit of crimson on the again of their heads. Downy Woodpeckers are sometimes confused with the bigger Furry Woodpecker. 
Downy Woodpecker. Raymond Marino/Audubon Photography Awards

Furry Woodpecker 

Talking of the Furry Woodpecker, it’s most likely the second most typical woodpecker to go to feeders after the smaller Downy. The 2 birds additionally look very comparable. To resolve which you have got, think about the beak and the scale of the chicken in query. As a common rule, if in case you have a basic suet cage and the chicken is roughly the identical size or smaller, you have a Downy. If the chicken is a bit longer than the cage and has a thicker invoice, it is a Furry. As with the Downy, male Furry Woodpeckers have crimson on the again of their heads. 

Hairy Woodpecker. Ewa Mutzenmore/Great Backyard Bird Count

Purple-bellied Woodpecker 

Due to its distinguishing vivid crimson cap, the Purple-bellied Woodpecker is typically confused with the Purple-headed Woodpecker. However compared aspect by aspect, they’re very totally different trying birds. Purple-heads are additionally not almost as widespread. An ample woodpecker within the japanese U.S., the Purple-belly is a medium-size woodpecker. Along with its crimson cap, it has a black-and-white striped again and a wash of crimson on its creamy-gray stomach, which is how the chicken bought its identify

Red-bellied Woodpecker. Michele Black/Great Backyard Bird Count

Northern Flicker 

One of many extra placing birds you may see round your yard, the Northern Flicker is a big woodpecker that always visits suet feeders. With their noticed breasts, striped backs, black bib, and a flash of yellow or crimson within the wings once they fly, they’re beautiful birds that appear like nothing else hanging from your suet feeder. Take pleasure in. 

Northern Flicker. David Zieg/Audubon Photography Awards

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