My neighbor swore suet would bring woodpeckers to my yard in two weeks, and I wasted $30 finding out he was wrong

Tara Jenkins · 2026-10-03T06:45:05.641392+00:00

Back in early March, my next door neighbor Dale, who has been feeding birds for over 20 years, promised me that if I hung a suet cake on my oak tree, I would have downy woodpeckers within two weeks. I trusted him, drove to the hardware store, and spent $30 on two suet cakes and a fancy wire cage. I hung the whole setup on the north side of the tree, right where he pointed, and then I waited. Two weeks passed, then three, and the only thing that showed up was a fat squirrel who figured out how to hang upside down and eat the entire cake in three days. I moved the cage to the south side, tried a different brand of suet, and even added a second feeder, but still nothing but starlings and that one stubborn squirrel. Dale came over last Saturday, looked at the tree, laughed, and said the north side stays in shade all day and the woodpeckers around here like sun. I moved it Sunday morning and had a red bellied woodpecker on it by Tuesday. So now I want to know, does suet placement really matter that much, or did I just get lucky with the timing?

Guest Forum

Loading…

My neighbor swore suet would bring woodpeckers to my yard in two weeks, and I wasted $30 finding out he was wrong | Backyard Birdwatchers - Guest Forum