FOR THE BIRDS

December 1994

By

Helen O'Shea

You are sure to please all winter birds by providing both suet and dry mixes.  Buy suet at a butcher shop or grocery store.   Dry feed can be purchased at grocery stores, hardware stores, etc.  Avoid cracked corn in a dry mix to discourage starlings, which scare away other birds.

• HARD PEANUT BUTTER MIX 

- 2 cups (500ml) ground fresh suet

- 1 cup  (250ml) peanut butter

- 2 cups (500ml) yellow cornmeal

- 2 cups (500ml) finely cracked corn 

In saucepan, melt suet.  Let cool, then reheat (this will make suet very thick).  Add peanut butter; mix well.  Add cornmeal and corn; mix well.  Pack into suet feeder and hang feeder in tree.  (If you do not have a suet feeder you can form shapes by packing mixture into small ice cream containers and freeze.)  Remove one from container, place in mesh onion bag, and hang from tree.  Make sure it is not too accessible for squirrels since they grab the chunk and run. 

• PEANUT BUTTER STICK

Take a piece of dead branch 5 to 8 cm thick and about 40 cm long.  Make a hole in the centre of some metal bottle caps with a small nail.  Tack the caps on to the stick with large carpet tacks.  Hammer a screw eye into the top of the stick part way, then screw it in the rest of the way.  Fill each bottle cap with peanut butter or a peanut butter mixture (cornmeal or birdseed added).  Hang the feeder from a branch with a coat hanger hook.   

• CHRISTMAS TREE FOR THE BIRDS

You can string popcorn, cranberries and hang from a tree in your yard.  You can also attach pieces of fruit (apples and oranges are favorites) with a metal hook for Christmas tree ornaments.   

Sunflower seed is perhaps the most popular although expensive dry food.  Highly nutritious, it is of utmost importance, especially in the winter.  It is relished by woodpeckers, jays, chickadees, nuthatches, blackbirds, and finches--also by squirrels.  The woodpecker swallows it whole, as do the jay and the blackbird, or puts it in a crack and pecks it open, as does the nuthatch.  The chickadee holds the seed with its feet against the twig and hammers it open before eating or storing it, and the Blue Jay often does this too.  The finches crack the seeds in their powerful bills and let the hulls fall away. 

If you are lucky enough to have a crabapple tree, mountain ash or wild roses on your property you will be able to observe how quickly a flock of  American Robins, Redpolls, Bohemian or Cedar Waxwings can devour the fruit.  Grapes, chopped apple, orange sections can be a special treat for a special feathered friend. 

• AN AUDUBON HANDBOOK: EASTERN BIRDS , John Farrow, Jr., 1988, McGraw-Hill Book Company.

This would make an excellent addition to your favourite birder's reference library.  Wonderful photographs of the bird in flight and in winter plumage as well as summer plumage are on the same page as the description of the bird. The photo of the female is also present if there is a major difference in colouration of the two sexes. There is also a comment at the top of the page e.g. crow-sized.  This should really help in identifying those tricky shore birds.  I know that I am hinting strongly for this book. 

Remember to call me with your December and January sightings before January 8, 1995 if you want them to appear in the January Seagull.  My number is 733-2873.  Have a wonderful holiday.

Helen O’Shea

Extracted from © The Seagull, Helen O'Shea, For the Birds

Return to the Previous page

Retour à la  page précédente