4 THE AU DU BON BU LEE DEN 
Half a Ton of Cheese 
By Mrs. BLANCHE CONE 
AVID BIRD LOVERS wishing to increase the bird population or attract birds 
to their backyard, might consider a cheese feeding program. Our experience 
over five years has shown that cheese is one of the most universally popular 
foods of birds and squirrels alike. Such a program can cost little more 
than an occasiona: token of appreciation, if one can make the necessary 
arrangements for obtaining the cheese gratis. Many super-markets, which 
package their own cheese, have a large quantity of scraps and unsalable 
cheese available, and birds aren’t fussy. 
Our feeder, two fees wide, a foot high and about 14 inches deep, was 
originally suspended from a wire between two oak trees to discourage the 
squirrels. But they soon learned to walk the tight wire. If they lost their 
balance, they would shinny their way upside down until they reached the 
feeder. Here they would have a grand feast and it was heartless to dis- 
courage them after so much effort. When one of the red oaks died and 
had to be cut down, an iron pole was encased in concrete to support the 
feeder. Now it can be turned to keep on the lee side of the elements. 
A fresh supply of cheese, cut in small pieces, perhaps 3 or 4 pounds at 
a time, soon brings the raucous cry of the jays as they start dropping out 
of the oak trees iike blue bombers. As many as 18 jays have invaded the 
feeder together. There are at least four redheaded woodpeckers who are 
permanent residents, all of which have been seen at the feeder at one time. 
The redheads are belligerent toward their own species but tolerate the 
jays and starlings. We try to discourage starlings by waving a newspaper 
from the breakfast room window. Sometimes the cheese is gone in an hour 
or two. Sometimes it lasts a day or longer. 
Permanent residents include a pair of nuthatches which gravitate be- 
tween the suet feeder and the cheese feeder. The hairy and downy wood- 
peckers can be seen almost any time of day awaiting their turn at the 
suet feeder. A half-inch wire mesh container, perhaps 8 or 9 inches long, 
five inches wide and two inches deep, open at the top, holds two or three 
pounds of suet. This lasts about two weeks, since the birds. have to work 
harder at it than they do at the cheese. On only one occasion has a downy 
been seen at the cneese feeder, and never a hairy. 
Migrants include the red-bellied woodpeckers who stay for weeks at a 
time and, like the nuthatches and red heads, gravitate between the suet 
and cheese feeders. A red-bellied makes as many as 15 trips a day to the 
cheese feeder. All four species of woodpeckers, including the nuthatch, 
awaiting their turn at the suet feeder on the red oak, is a common sight. 
Migrant feeders at the cheese stand include a pair of tufted titmice, 
chickadees, wrens and juncoes, after a heavy snowfall. Once during an 
unseasonally warm day in April, the cheese feeder became infested with 
an enormous swarm of bees. All of the birds stayed away except a pair of 
titmice. They would fiy down from the lowest limb of the oak in front 
of the feeder, scolding loudly, “Peter, Peter, Peter,” their little tufts 
bristling with anger. They alternately made dozens of attempts to dislodge 
the bees from their favorite haunt, without success. The bees disappeared 
a few days later, during a cold spell. 
