A smorgasbord for the birds

Now that the temperatures are dropping, the birds are letting me know that it’s time to think about increasing their daily offerings — not only the amount of food I put out for them but also the variety. I provide food for my wild avian visitors all summer long, as it is important to have an easy, accessible food source where those busy parents can come to fuel up in between feedings of their ravenous broods. Yet when the cold weather arrives, I like to augment my hand-outs to keep all the birds happy, healthy and satisfied.

To say that it is overwhelming these days to go into a specialty bird shop or even the bird aisle in a store is an understatement. There are SO many different options that it can get confusing. I always know exactly what I want when I shop, so I don’t normally spend the time looking around.

Suet

Yet the other day, with extra time on my hands, I decided to explore some of the current options being offered, and I actually caught myself laughing out loud. For instance, I am amazed at how many suet choices there are. There are suet cakes, suet bars, suet balls, suet dough, suet spread, suet plugs, suet nuggets, suet morsels and suet bites. (Take a breath). There are fruit and nut suet cakes, berry treat suet cakes, insect suet cakes, never-melt suet cakes, high-energy suet cakes, gourmet suet cakes, peanut butter suet cakes and hot pepper suet cakes. Personally, when I choose to feed suet, I go to the nearest butcher shop and purchase big, fresh chunks of pure fat, which I squeeze into a boxy cage feeder. At less than $1 per pound, this is a much cheaper and natural alternative.

Seeds

Then there are the seed choices: black oil sunflower, striped sunflower, safflower, nyjer/thistle, white millet, golden millet, red millet, flax and milo. And if those aren’t enough as is, they can be combined into various mixes: songbird blends, woodland blends, value blends, high-energy blends, woodpecker blends, fruit blends, nut blends, trail mix bends, economy mixes, finch mixes and no-waste mixes (another breath). There are whole peanuts, shelled peanuts, whole corn, cracked corn, live mealworms and dead mealworms. When feeding these beetle larvae, keep in mind that deceased, roasted mealworms provide birds with a quick snack when they need one, but the crispy insects offer little in the way of nutrition. Live mealworms, however, are a great source of protein for both adults and youngsters and should always be the favored option.

Feeding plan

I have been feeding the birds for decades and I have come to realize that there are a few choice items that they enjoy above all others, and I am happy to share my personal feeding regime with you. First of all, the only seed type I offer is black oil sunflower. I only feed sunflower hearts (meaning no shells), whole and chipped. I haven’t noticed a species yet that won’t scarf this premium seed down. Bluebirds, woodpeckers, sparrows, finches, you name it, they love it. I offer it on a hanging platform feeder, as well as on the ground. Yes, it is one of the most expensive seeds you can buy, but if it’s the only seed variety you are purchasing, it is worth its weight in gold. I also put out a peanut feeder that houses shelled raw nuts. Downy woodpeckers, titmice, nuthatches and chickadees love extracting them from their holding. In addition, I buy a large bag of shelled peanuts each winter, solely for the blue jays. I toss one handful out every morning to the awaiting corvids who immediately dive down into the grass and grab one or several, only to carry them away deep into the woods to stash for future meals.

The most important thing I offer is a homemade concoction whose recipe was given to me by a friend years ago. Never have I seen a treat that is relished by so many species. My friend’s recipe, which she refers to as “magical bird butter” is as follows:

2 cups rendered suet
2 cups crunchy peanut butter
1.5 cups sunflower hearts
3 cups cornmeal

I buy my suet from a local butcher and render it down in a Crock-pot, measuring out 2-cup portions and placing them in the freezer for future use. For the recipe; in a 2-quart sauce pan, I melt down the suet, then add the peanut butter. Once that is melted together, I dump in the sunflower seeds and finally the cornmeal. After mixing everything together thoroughly, I let the pan sit for about 30 minutes to cool slightly, mixing again before pouring the contents into a container for cold storage. When preparing to feed each day, I simply take a strong spoon and scrape the mixture into various-sized pieces until the desired amount is reached and place it outside on a feeder that will allow for an uninterrupted landing.

Commitment

It is important to realize that before you start down this path of feeding your avian friends throughout the winter, you must make a commitment to yourself and a promise to your birds. Know that they will come to depend on you, especially during inclement weather, and forgetting to feed them could lead to their demise. In addition, offering migratory species, such as eastern bluebirds, a food supply, can influence their decision to remain in your area, rather than migrate. That is why it is your obligation to offer food daily throughout the winter months. Yes, your birds can be demanding. Supplies can get expensive. But the reward of having a close-up look at our winter residents as they satisfy their daily appetites is incredibly gratifying.

As I walk through the bird store looking at the many different options from which to choose, it dawns on me that these concoctions really aren’t designed for the birds themselves. Honestly, birds aren’t that picky. All they care about is getting something into their tummies so that they can survive another night. Rather, those fancy, flowery choices are meant to indulge our own personal palates. Surely there will be one suet cake, one deluxe seed mix that we can’t resist thinking our birds would just love. And so, it makes the trip home with us to be placed out in a feeder: a tube feeder, hopper feeder, caged feeder, window feeder, platform feeder, decorative feeder, pole-mount feeder, nectar/jelly feeder? Sigh. Let’s save that subject for a future article.

Video

To view a video showing a sampling of bird species visiting my magical bird butter feeder, click this link to visit my YouTube channel https://youtu.be/7U_jHMo5ZLk.