One thing I love about living in the woods is having ample opportunities to bird watch. Yeah, maybe I'm strange that way, but I could lie on the side of my bed and watch the birds outside my window all winter and spring. (However, we do have a female Cardinal that harasses us from time to time.)Bird Feeding in the Winter (ideas from Birds and Blooms)
- Garland. String popcorn (best if out in the open for a day or two), fresh cranberries, green and/or red grapes, apple pieces, chunks of plain doughnuts, and raisins.
- Suet.
- Add berries to suet mixture and cool in cupcake tins. Hang the suet cups in the tree.
- Fill empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls with suet. Cover one end with duct tape and freeze. These fit well into suet logs.
- Apples. Hang red and green apples by the stems.
Suet Recipes
- Melt 1 cup lard and 1 cup crunchy peanut butter. Add 1/3 cup sugar to mixture. Then add 2 cups quick cooking oats, 2 cups cornmeal, 1 cup flour, and 1 cup birdseed. Form blocks and freeze.
- Melt 1 cup lard and 1 cup crunchy peanut butter. Add 1/3 cup sugar, 1 cup whole wheat flour, cream of wheat, or oatmeal, and 2 cups cornmeal. (Optional ingredients: raisins, sunflower seeds (without shells), dried fruit, or eggshells.) Cut into squares and put in freezer.
Hi, Leslie, we're big bird watchers here, too. One of the best gifts I ever gave was one for a bird lover friend whose birthday is in December. I took a cheap,small artificial tree from a thrift shop and decorated it with rice cakes covered in peanut butter, garlands of dried fruit and cranberries and other edible "ornaments". She had a great show of visitors in her back yard the whole month.
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