This is the time of year when the birds in your yard really need your help. They’ve stripped away all of the ripe berries they can find, and natural seeds are scarce.
You can help them cope by keeping your feeders filled and putting out a few extra treats.
During cold months, birds burn more than half of their daily calories trying to stay warm. To compensate for that loss, birds need high-calorie food rich in oils, proteins and fats, according to the Humane Society of the United States in its most recent “Wild Neighbors News” publication.
The easiest way to help them is to provide some form of suet, a hard beef or mutton fat that has been melted and solidified again. You’ll find suet in ready-to-use cakes, often supplemented with corn, nuts, oaks, millet, fruit, mealworms and other healthy ingredients. These cakes, and the wire baskets for holding them, can be found at wildlife and hardware stores and garden centers.
To create your own suet, ask the meat cutter at your local grocery store for any leftover trimmings. A mesh onion bag makes a great homemade suet feeder, suggests the humane society.
Or, you can dip pieces of stale white bread in plain melted suet, then roll the pieces in birdseed. Attach twine to the bread and hang it from a tree, recommends the humane society.
Another option is to melt suet in your microwave and pour it into an ice-cube tray. Add bits of fruit or seeds, then place the tray in your freezer to harden. The hardened cubes can be scattered on the ground or placed in your platform feeder.
In addition, you can provide slices of citrus fruits, apple or banana slices, melon rinds, pitted dates or raisins soaked in warm water. Bluejays flock to peanuts in the shell; woodpeckers like most nut mixes.
You also can do something as simple as smearing peanut butter on the trunk of a tree.
For more tips on living with all kinds of animals, visit the humane society online at www.hsus.org. For more tips on feeding songbirds, visit Wild Bird Centers of America at www.wildbirdcenter.com and Cornell University’s “All About Birds” site at http://birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/AttractingBirds/Feeding Birds/
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