This Winter Feed the Birds with Homemade Bird Food
If you are wild about birds, Homemade Bird Food will help you plan, prepare, and host a backyard banquet for them. Adele Porter shares two recipes from her book Homemade Bird Food. This winter, feed the birds!
Each season provides an opportunity to set out food items that are suited to birds’ specific needs. Birds that overwinter in the northern United States require high-calorie foods to produce enough heat to survive and gain as many calories as possible while expending the least energy. Fats and carbohydrates in the form of suet and nuts, along with calorie-laden sunflower and safflower seeds, are on the winter menu. Offering shelled nuts and seeds will also save birds the effort of opening the seeds.
Zebra-striped Suet-sicles
Ingredients: 3 cups of suet, melted, and 1 cup Nyjer seed.
Tools: A popsicle mold or small paper cups, popsicle sticks or crafts sticks, yarn, twine, or raffia.
Place the popsicle mold or paper cups on a baking sheet with wax paper underneath. Set out a bowl of Nyjer seed seeds. Lay out the popsicle or craft sticks. Drill a hole through each stick, near the end. (Hint: Some craft sticks come with holes already made.)
Melt 1 cup of suet in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. Pour 1 inch of melted suet into each cup or popsicle mold. Place in the refrig- erator for about 10 minutes, or until the suet just starts to cool. Sprinkle a layer of thistle seeds into the partially cooled suet. Push the sticks into the centers of the suet-sicles, keeping the ends with the holes on top. Place back in the refrigerator to cool for about 10 more minutes.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the mold is full. Chill until hard. Pop the suet-sicles from the mold. If they don’t release easily, place the mold in warm water for 30 seconds. Place a 12-inch length of string, yarn, twine, or raffia through the hole in the suet-sicle stick and tie the two ends together in a slip knot. Hang the zebra- striped suet-sicles from a tree branch, feeder support, or suction-cup window hanger. Watch for woodpeckers, chickadees and other birds to zip in for a suet-sicle treat.
Double-dipped Cone
Ingredients: Pine cone, suet, any combination of seeds, and peanut butter.
Tools: String or yarn.
Explore an area with pine trees and collect a few pine cones. Take time to enjoy the smell of pine needles underfoot and the activity of wildlife. Tie a 12-inch length of string or yarn under the top layer of scales on the pine cone, just under the stem
Melt suet on low heat in a heavy saucepan or double boiler. Hold onto the string and dip the cone into the melted suet. If the suet is not deep enough for dipping, pour suet over the cone with a long-handled spoon. (Hint: Place wax paper on a countertop to catch any drips.)
Immediately sprinkle seeds of your choice over the dipped cone. Let the cone cool on the waxed paper. Put the dipped cone in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling process. Heat the peanut butter in a microwave until it is melted. This will only take about 3 ten-second intervals. Immediately dip the cone into, or drizzle the melted peanut butter over, the cooled cone. Hang the cones outside and wait for hungry birds to dip in.
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