Attracting Birds
How to Attract Woodpeckers
A suet cage in a yard with no standing deadwood will get you a downy and little else. Woodpeckers are habitat birds first, and the feeder is a supplement to what your trees already offer.
The short answer
- Suet is the fastest attractant, but the number of woodpecker species you can get is set by your trees, not your feeder.
- Mount suet against a tree trunk or on a vertical surface at 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 m). Woodpeckers brace with the tail and dislike a swinging cage.
- A tail-prop feeder with an extended panel below the cage is the difference between attracting downies and attracting flickers and pileateds.
- Whole peanuts and peanut splits in a mesh feeder bring in the medium and large woodpeckers that a small suet cage rarely holds.
- A dead limb left standing feeds woodpeckers year round through the insects inside it, and may eventually give you a nest.
Woodpeckers arrive for the trees and stay for the suet. That order matters, because it explains why one yard collects five species and the yard two streets over gets a single Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) in winter and nothing else.
Every backyard woodpecker spends most of its day working bark and dead wood for beetle larvae, ants and spiders. Your feeder is a fat supplement on top of that. The number of species you can realistically get is a function of how much mature and dying wood exists within a few hundred yards.
So this plan runs in two tracks: the fast track, which is suet and peanuts placed correctly and usually pays off within a few weeks, and the slow track, which is deadwood and mature trees and pays off over years.
The fast track: suet, placed the way they feed#
Suet is rendered animal fat, usually beef, sold as cakes that fit a standard wire cage. It is the highest-value food you can offer a woodpecker and the reason a suet feeder outperforms a seed feeder for this group.
Placement matters more than the cake. Woodpeckers feed clinging to a vertical surface, braced back on stiff tail feathers. A cage swinging freely on 18 inches (45 cm) of chain forces an unnatural posture and gets used reluctantly.
- Mount it flat against a tree trunk or a wooden post, or hang it tight against a trunk so the trunk itself acts as the bracing surface.
- Height of 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 m) is convenient for you and acceptable to them. Woodpeckers are not fussy about height the way ground feeders are.
- Facing away from the prevailing weather. Suet in constant rain sours faster.
- Within sight of your existing seed feeder, at least at first. Birds already using the yard are the ones who will find the new feeder.
A DIY suet log, which is a length of branch with 1 inch (2.5 cm) holes bored into it and packed with suet dough, is the most woodpecker-natural feeder there is. It also gives smaller birds something to cling to that starlings cannot easily use.
Tail-prop feeders are not a gimmick
A suet feeder with a flat panel extending 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 cm) below the cage lets a bird press its tail against something solid. For a Downy it is a nicety. For a Northern Flicker or a Pileated Woodpecker, which are far too big to hang from a small cage, it is the difference between feeding and leaving.
Choosing the suet, and the summer rule#
Plain rendered suet is fine from fall through spring. Above roughly 80°F (27°C) it softens, drips and goes rancid, and melted fat smeared across breast feathers damages the insulation and waterproofing a bird depends on.
| Season | Use | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Fall and winter | Plain rendered suet, high-fat cakes, peanut suet | Nothing much; cold suits all of it |
| Spring | Rendered suet, dough blends | Large cakes that sit for weeks |
| Summer | No-melt suet dough only, in shade | Raw fat, plain rendered cakes, big cakes |
Suet with peanut pieces or tree nuts included tends to draw woodpeckers faster than plain fat. Cakes containing whole seed, dried fruit or grain are aimed at a wider audience and get picked over by starlings and blackbirds. Suet: the complete guide covers the types, and homemade suet recipes covers making no-melt dough yourself, which is cheaper and lets you control what is in it.
Put out a size that gets eaten in a week or two. A cake that has hung for a month in warm weather is doing nobody any good. In cold regions the calculation flips and suet becomes the most valuable thing in the yard, as covered in best high-energy foods for cold weather.
Peanuts bring in the bigger species#
If suet gets you Downies, peanuts get you the rest. Shelled peanuts and peanut splits in a mesh tube are heavily used by Red-bellied, Hairy and Red-headed Woodpeckers, and they are one of the few foods that will hold a Red-bellied Woodpecker at a feeder for minutes at a time.
Use a peanut feeder with a metal mesh around 1/2 to 3/4 inch (13 to 19 mm). Whole in-shell peanuts on a wire spiral also work and select strongly for the larger, stronger-billed birds.
Two cautions. Peanuts absorb moisture and grow mold quickly, and moldy peanuts are genuinely dangerous, so keep quantities small and the feeder covered. And peanuts are the single most attractive food in the yard to squirrels, jays and grackles.
What each species actually wants#
Not every woodpecker will use a yard, and the ones that do want different things.
| Species | Comes to feeders | Best offering | What it needs nearby |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downy Woodpecker | Very readily | Suet, sunflower hearts, peanuts | Almost any yard with trees |
| Hairy Woodpecker | Readily | Suet, peanuts | Larger trees, some mature woodland |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | Readily | Peanuts, suet, sunflower | Mature deciduous trees |
| Northern Flicker | Occasionally | Suet on a tail-prop, ground peanuts | Open ground with ants, dead limbs |
| Red-headed Woodpecker | Occasionally, locally | Suet, peanuts, cracked corn | Open oak woods, standing snags |
| Pileated Woodpecker | Rarely, locally | Large tail-prop suet feeder | Large tracts of mature forest |
| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | Rarely | Suet, sugar water | Sap trees, birch and maple |
Downy is the near-universal one. Pileated is a bonus that depends almost entirely on whether you live near substantial mature woodland; no feeder produces one in a treeless subdivision. Flickers are ground foragers that spend much of their time eating ants, so a lawn with ant activity does more for them than any cake.
The slow track: dead wood#
The single most effective long-term change is to stop tidying.
A standing dead tree, or a dead limb left on a living tree, is a woodpecker resource in three ways: it holds the beetle and ant larvae they eat, it is soft enough to excavate a nest cavity in, and it makes a resonant drumming post for spring territorial display.
If a dead limb is not over a building, a path or a driveway, leave it. If a dead tree must come down for safety, consider having it cut to a shorter standing stump rather than removed entirely. Snags, dead wood and leaf litter covers how to judge what is safe to keep.
Leaf litter and a brush pile help too, particularly for flickers and towhees working the ground layer. So does skipping the insecticide, since a yard with no beetles is a yard with less reason for a woodpecker to visit.
A dead limb beats a nest box
Most woodpeckers excavate a fresh cavity every year and will not use a box. The exception is the Northern Flicker, which will sometimes accept a large box packed solid with wood chips so it can excavate the filling. Even then, a standing dead trunk is more likely to be used.
Starlings, and the one feeder that solves them#
European Starlings will strip a suet cake in a day, and they are the most common reason people give up on suet. The fix is mechanical rather than dietary.
An upside-down suet feeder presents the cake so it can only be reached from below. Woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees cling upside down without difficulty; starlings can do it briefly but not comfortably, and they usually give up. A caged suet feeder with a wide outer grid is the alternative, though it also excludes larger woodpeckers.
Avoid suet cakes packed with cracked corn and mixed grain, which are starling magnets. Keeping starlings off feeders has the rest of the tactics, and suet feeders compares cage designs.
Never use plastic mesh onion bags
Suet sold in a fine plastic net should be moved to a proper cage before hanging. Birds can catch a foot or a tongue in fine mesh, and woodpeckers with their long barbed tongues are particularly at risk. The same applies to any homemade feeder built from netting.
Drumming on the house#
If a woodpecker starts hammering your siding, it is doing one of three things: drumming to advertise a territory in spring, excavating a roost or nest cavity, or hunting insects inside the wall. Loud rapid bursts on metal flashing or a resonant board are display. Ragged holes are excavation. Small scattered holes usually mean insects.
Display drumming stops within a few weeks and responds to covering the resonant surface. Excavation and insect damage need the actual cause addressed. Feeders neither cause nor cure this; a woodpecker drumming on a gutter has chosen it for the sound.
A season-by-season plan#
- Late summer. Put up a tail-prop suet feeder with no-melt dough, mounted against a trunk in shade. Expect little traffic yet.
- Fall. Switch to plain rendered suet as temperatures drop. Add a peanut feeder. This is when woodpecker numbers at feeders start climbing.
- Winter. Peak season. Keep suet and peanuts stocked continuously through cold snaps, and add a second suet feeder on the other side of the yard if one bird is monopolizing.
- Spring. Expect drumming and territorial chases. Keep feeding through nesting; adults bring fledglings to suet in early summer, which is the best viewing of the year.
- Any time. Leave dead limbs standing where it is safe, stop spraying, and let the leaf litter lie under shrubs.
Frequently asked questions#
What is the best food to attract woodpeckers?
Suet, followed by peanuts. Raw or rendered suet cakes give woodpeckers the fat they use for foraging energy, and shelled peanuts in a mesh feeder pull in the medium and larger species. Black oil sunflower, sunflower hearts and mealworms are all taken as well, but suet is the reliable opener.
Where should I hang a suet feeder for woodpeckers?
Against a tree trunk or a post at about 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 m), or hanging close to a trunk so the feeder does not swing freely. Woodpeckers feed in a vertical posture braced on their stiff tail feathers, so a stable vertical surface is used far more readily than a cage swinging on a long chain.
Can I feed suet in summer?
Yes, but switch to a no-melt suet dough rather than raw fat once daytime temperatures pass roughly 80°F (27°C). Plain suet softens and turns rancid in heat, and melted fat that coats a bird's breast feathers can damage insulation and waterproofing. Put out smaller cakes and site the feeder in shade.
How do I keep starlings off my suet feeder?
Use an upside-down suet feeder, where the cake is accessed only from below. Woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees cling and feed inverted without difficulty, while European Starlings struggle to hold that position for long. A caged suet feeder with a wide outer grid is the second option.
Will woodpeckers use a nest box?
Rarely, with one notable exception. Most woodpeckers excavate their own cavity in dead or decaying wood and ignore boxes. Northern Flickers will sometimes accept a large box packed full of wood chips so they can excavate the contents, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers occasionally use boxes. Leaving a dead limb standing works better than any box.
How long does it take woodpeckers to find a new suet feeder?
One to three weeks in a wooded or partly wooded yard, sometimes only days if a Downy Woodpecker is already visiting a seed feeder. In a yard with few mature trees it can take a whole season, and the largest species may never come at all.