Fast Food for Wild
Birds
Today's Snack: Mix a handful of M&M's and a
handful of peanuts in a couple of cups of unbuttered popcorn, and you have
yourself some tasty fast food, too! Try it with tomato juice with a tall celery
stick in the glass.
--------------------
Suet or vegetable shortening
Peanut butter, peanut halves or
whole peanuts
Cornmeal or flour
Wild birdseed
Raisins or tiny squares of cut-up
fruit leather
Chopped peanuts
Recycled yogurt cups
Plastic netting saved from the
purchase of onions or fruit
Bits of yarn, string and twine,
and shredded paper
What's missing in winter and early
spring? Insects! What do birds eat a lot of? Insects! How do birds feel in the
winter and early spring? Hungry!
Well, they do pretty well all on
their own with berries and seeds they find. But you can provide a delicious and
nutritious treat for wild birds with the fat content that they need to keep
warm, plus do your part with some recycling.
In a large bowl, mix suet with a few
spoonfuls of peanut butter and shortening. Add cornmeal or flour 'til it's not
too sticky but will hold together in one ball or piece. Add the other
ingredients, including short lengths of twine, string or yarn for them to use
in building their nests. Mix like cookie dough.
Drop into plastic yogurt cups,
smoosh down to "mold" in the cup, and place in the freezer. When it's somewhat
frozen, unmold the suet treat from the yogurt cup, put it in the netting, and
tie the top with twine.
Birds will perch on a branch or the netting itself to
reach in and feed. Cut off and discard excess netting. Leave a foot or two of
twine on the top to tie this goodie to the tree. Sprinkle a handful or two of
birdseed on the ground underneath for the ground feeders to get in on the
feeding action.
When the "suet casserole" is gone, take the netting
down, open it up, replace with a new suet treat, and re-hang! And in the
spring, clean for re-use or discard the netting, and remember to do it again
next year!
