Peony buds after a rain

 I was taking the suet feeder in at night along with the hummingbird feeders.  It seemed it would go empty (it holds two suet cakes at a time) pretty fast.   While I ate lunch I watched as a pileated woodpecker came in and hung from the feeder upside down.  The pileated is too big for at least some of it's body to hang over the edge.  Got to thinking as I watched it peck off a piece and hold it momentarily in it's massive beak before letting it fall into t's gullet that a couple of them could have finished off a cake in a short period of time.  The pileated had no sooner flown off than a hairy wood pecker swooped in and hung on the side to get some of the suet.  I noticed a frustrated blue jay in the lilac bushes jumping around waiting for his chance.   The hairy took off but was almost immediately replaced by a starling and then a second starling came in on the other side of the feeder.  The blue jay waited a little longer but eventually left.  The starlings suddenly took off together and were quickly replaced by the brown thrasher.  I hadn't ever seen it at a feeder before.  Her technique was a little different.  She would peck a piece of suet free, let it drop to the ground, and then she would fly down to eat it.  Once that was accomplished she'd fly back up and repeat the process.  As I watched I noticed red-winged blackbirds and house sparrows would come in for both seeds and suet.  I stopped bringing the suet feeder inside.  It's amazing the cakes last as long as they do.

On the other hand, I had four hummer feeders out when they came back and would have to clean and refill half of them every day.  The middle of last week they suddenly stopped coming to the feeders.  I see the occasional hummer take a drink but the feeders remain basically full.  Either they are nesting and the females are staying close to the nest.  The eggs have hatched and the female is looking for insects rather than sugar water for her brood.  There is a food source(s) which are now blooming that they prefer.  Probably a little of all three going on.