I put safflower seeds and thistle seed out all summer just to keep the birds around, but now it is time to bring out all the rest.  I made the mistake of keeping my seed in plastic bins in my garage - covered - seemed like great idea at the time and with the heat etc. this summer, I grew a lovely crop of those nasty little moths (pantry moths??). Ended up having to throw all the seed away and used bleach to clean the insides of the bins.  Took all summer to get rid of them out of the garage - they were in the cars--YUK, so now I have the bin on my back steps, hopefully it is sealed tight enough everything stays dry.  If that doesn’t work, I am not sure what I am going to do.

I think waxwings prefer fruits, don’t they? You might try setting out some raisins or blueberries and see who comes for them.

We only use safflower seeds in our feeders. (Well, we have one thistle feeder.) It seems to attract the usual suspects, but starlings don’t like it, so they don’t come around anymore.

Cyn, if you have enough freezer space, putting seed in the freezer for 3 days will kill the moths and eggs and whatnot. Of course, leaving the seed on the back steps once the temps go below freezing will accomplish the same thing. You know, I don’t remember my parents ever having trouble with these stupid moths. For that matter, I didn’t used to, either. This must be a fairly recent problem. I am really leery of bringing any seed into the house for very long now. The moths are horribly difficult to get rid of once they have a toehold..

Pablo, I’ve left out chunks of apple, grapes, softened raisins and orange halves in the last couple of feeding seasons. The cedar waxwings just won’t stop by. They do, on occasion, pick over the sumacs, though. I shouldn’t complain—at least I do see them sometimes— but I’d like them to come a little closer so I can get a real good look at them. I guess they’re shy.

Do squirrels like safflower seeds? I think I just read someplace that they find safflowers seeds very bitter.

I’ve had one squirrel and one chipmunk today. Plus lots of chickadees, juncos, and goldfinches. Looks as if the news of the diner is spreading. I put out some suet this morning and that has certainly been popular already. It’s nice to see the birds enjoying themselves. I do wish the chickadees would quit bickering, though.

I don’t usually have much trouble with starlings. They’ll show up eventually, but they don’t like most of my feeders. They will try to turn themselves into pretzels to get to the suet, so I just bring it in for a day or two and they give up and go away. Part of me says they have to eat, too, and I wouldn’t mind so much if they wouldn’t bring the entire extended family and vast network of casual acquaintances with them.

Do these diners have aluminum siding with a big neon sign?  I’m picturing “Mom’s” or maybe “Eat at Kate’s!” here.

Ooh, I like the “Eat at Kate’s!” one. I should make a sign. Actually, that might be a good way to break up the expanse of plate glass to help little birdies avoid braining themselves on it. Hm. I like the way you think.

Happy to be of service, ma’am.

How about “Chez Kate’s-fine bird cuisine”

I think the reason I switched to safflower was because the squirrels and blackbirds don’t like it and it seems to have cut down on their visits, while not entirely stopping them!!

Kate, if you buy the suet cakes, go to the Christmas Tree Shop--they almost always have them and they are only $.69 each - when I get them I stock up cause it is the cheapest around by at least $.30 (hey, who stole the cent sign off my keyboard??  I never realized before this that it no longer exists!!)

Pablo, I put out cut oranges in the spring as the Orioles love them!!  Sometimes the other birds try them, but it is the orioles who absolutely go for it.  And, this summer (and last), the woodpeckers discovered the hummingbird feeders and helped themselves.  It seemed to be the younger ones (those younguns’--can’t trust them nohow!!) - and we have had a bumper crop of little woodpeckers this year.  Love them, except when they decide to try and drill holes in my house at 6AM.

The next time I’m over at the bird shop, I’ll pick up 5 pounds of safflower seed and see how it goes. Even if if I don’t use it in place of sunflower seeds (since I bought 100 pounds of sunflower seed), refilling the sunflower seed feeders with safflower seeds every now and then might keep the squirrels a little bit under control. There are two who visit now, plus a chipmunk, but I imagine that there will be more by the end of winter. I really don’t mind feeding a couple of squirrels because I do enjoy them. But not a whole herd of them.

I found a couple of suet cakes at K-Mart for $.75 so that wasn’t too bad. When it gets reliably cold out, I’ll switch over to unrendered suet from the butchery. That’s even cheaper and I can make my own cakes and mix it up with whatever other ingredients I want. Sometimes I mix in some crushed peanuts or sunflower seed hearts. It seems to go over really well.