For the past week we have had snow and rain and then everything iced up so it looks very pretty. The bird feeders are always busy, but when it snows, they are super busy. I enjoy watching the birds at the feeders so much. I don’t even get too mad at the squirrels. One day I had a squirrel at the feeder with a chipmunk waiting on a branch for his turn! I have a picture of it somewhere but that is another problem. We sprinkle cayenne pepper into the bird food before we put the feeder back up and it works pretty good, and no It is not harmful to the birds.
My exercise bike is right in front of the window with the suet feeder. We have a fiberglass pipe going up the pole its on to deter the squirrels and it works, (they slide down). Although a chipmunk climbed right up the inside. Anyway there has been a lot of action.
The Downey woodpecker was at the feeder with his female counterpart. He has red on the back of his head, which you can’t see in this picture. She does not. I couldn’t get a picture of the both of them because they fly away too fast if I move the slightest bit. The first picture of the Red Bellied woodpecker does not do it justice. He is about 9 1/4″ height. He was very jumpy and I was lucky to get any picture at all! You can see the size of his beak.
There were also house finches, wrens and sparrows feeding too. As soon as the Red Bellied came, they would all scatter. The other pics, I thought were just pretty. On the other hook opposite the suet I have this decorative hummingbird hanger made from silverware and glass stones. It is covered in ice and looks cool. The bottom picture is the path in our backyard that leads into the woods.
Red Bellied Woodpecker 
Downey Woodpecker
