Thanks for that explanation, Ric!

The collective knowledge of our little group is tremendous.

I believe the biggest source of the contamination is from the now-closed Avtex Fibers plant in Front Royal. From what I recall, fish taken from the river above that are not as affected. This is on the Shenandoah, which joins the Potomac at Harpers Ferry. I've only done catch and release in our section of the Potomac and in the Shenandoah.

There's also a mineral oil spill on the Potomac that has killed dozens of birds.

Isn't the Potomac the source of our drinking water? And I love locally caught fish! I've had it quite a few times at local restaurants. We really have to do a better job with our rivers.

it's a tough battle as our eastern US rivers have served both as water and food source and giant toilet for our biggest population centers for a couple hundred years now.
"Dilution is the solution...' seems to be finding some brick walls.

If I could afford waterfront, I'd probably get obsessive about it.

There's nothing like a pristine river teeming with happy fish!

I just read that it was Virginia's Dominion Power that spilled all that mineral oil by a waterfowl sanctuary.

Oh my goodness! Bird lovers! Check out this hi-def LIVE eagle cam!

http://www.eagles.org/dceaglec...

There are two eggs in the nest.

The nest is snowy.

Nest Flix?

Lisa, you're puntastic!

In the Nat'l Arb, that is so great!
Ha Lisa, excellent!

Good one, Lisa!

Thanks for the webcam links, ssg.

I doled out lots of food to very hungry birds this past weekend. Brrrrd it was cold; even I had to wear a coat when I was outside!
At one point there were 30 Starlings devouring suet as soon as I put it out in my backyard
I took pity on them (and gave up on getting them to leave) and put little chunks of suet in various places at ground level so that they and the bluebirds, juncos, etc. could get the suet they needed to warm up. My most useful "suet feeder" was a 6' long plank.

Muddy--
Tell us again how you can have so much suet on your hands? Do you buy loads of suet cakes?
I know you posted that you mix suet cakes with Peanut Butter in it until soft and then put it out.

Do you smear it on tree trunks?
Do you find more birds are attracted to the suet if you do this?
Do you find more birds c coming to YOUR suet than the store-bough ones? Just curious...

I have noticed that some of the suet cakes I put out attract more birds than others.
What is the secret? I buy asst. suet cakes at Wallmart or at HD--not paying too much attention
on what they are called. Seems to me--that they all look alike anyway. No matter what they
are called on the packages. Are the names a "scam"?

I have never made my own suet. Just not THAT much into it. Usually, I have suet cakes hanging around
on 3 different tree trunks. Any birds are welcome to feast on any of them.

I guess my ultimate question is IF commercial Suet cakes are really as good as home made ones?
What is the difference???

My forever inquiring mind wants to know. Thanks, Gita

I used to be able to get suet quite inexpensively at the grocery store, maybe a quarter a pound or so. They have now started grinding it and selling for a buck a pound, making store bought cakes about the same price. I enjoyed making my own but no longer do. Maybe I will check with my local meat markets...

I do buy a lot of suet, Gita. I usually buy it at the bird food store; it's softer and easier to mix than the blocks sold at Giant, for example.

I started mixing suet and peanut butter when my youngest daughter gave me 2 peanut butter feeders; one looks like this and the other is very similar: http://www.allforbirds.com/eve...

I wanted to use the feeders because she gave them to me, but I knew that squirrels would immediately find and eat the peanut butter. Somehow I came up with the idea of blending hot pepper suet, regular suet and peanut butter and smearing it on instead of plain PB. Now I use that blend in any suet feeder the squirrels can get to because they leave it alone.

Anytime I've tried to feed the birds, my efforts were always thwarted by our voracious squirrels. My neighbor is trying but the squirrels are once again intervening in the process. I've tried several different systems and I will continue to try but those squirrels sure are determined.

Craig, I don't feed the birds for the exact same reason. Instead, I try to plant bird-friendly flowers in my garden and leave the berries and seed heads up. Birds do love the echinacea and agastache seeds and viburnum berries. But I was surprised to see last week that at least half of viburnum berries are still hanging on. I wonder why the birds haven't feasted on them yet.

I buy all our suet, usually at Ace or Walmart. I shop for deals, mostly a buck each or less. I just bought 8 hi-energy cakes for $5.99 at Ace. They look to be nearly pure fat. I'd say we use 30-40 a season, depending how much our pair of Pileateds are here. They can go through some suet.

For years it was a never ending battle for my dad to come up with a way to out wit the squirrels. Every time I went home for a visit, the bird feeding area looked more and more bizarre with various contraptions he had rigged up. First thing he changed out was mounting the feeders on metal poles instead of wooden ones, and then all sorts of baffles to counter balance their weight, and then even welded spikes to deter them from trying to jump on the baffles in the first place. Squirrels always won and now he just lets them be LOL. I use a Duncraft squirrel proof feeder where the food ports close when the weight of a squirrel is on it. Seems to work pretty good.

If you go to a Hispanic grocery you can buy large containers of hot pepper POWDER quite inexpensively. Shake a bunch into the container holding your seed supply and mix it in thoroughly. If you put enough in and get it well distributed it will deter the squirrels.

Good tip!