Backyard Birding

There are a number of specialty suet feeders on the market which make feeding your birds suet very convenient, especially if you purchase it. There are rectangular cages to drop in suet cakes and wooden tubes to insert suet plugs into. Some are quite decorative and others are very plain.

This is not a necessary purchase, however, if you want to offer suet to your birds. These also work for homemade suet substitutes like the recipe I shared last week.

1. Smear it right on a tree. Many of the birds which are attracted by suet are woodpeckers and they naturally spend a great deal of time searching under pieces of bark looking for hiding insects.

2. Drill a hole in a large branch or small log. Fill this with suet. If you drill the whole one inch in diameter, you will also be able to use commercially prepared suet plugs.

3. Put some in a used mesh bag. After eating all your oranges, onions, etc., wash the mesh bag in warm soapy water, rinse and fill with suet. This is great for smaller birds such as chickadees, titmice and nuthatches. When the squirrels get to it, they will chew right through, but that is not nearly as frustrating as when they chew through a nice hopper feeder.

4. Fill pine cones. Spread suet in the open leaves of a pine cone and hang them. This, too, is fr the smaller birds. I love watching the agile nuthatches as they hang upside down, swaying and spinning in the wind while they eat.

5. Freeze in muffin tins. Place a length of cord in each cup of a muffin tin, pack with suet and freeze. Hang them outside when it is freezing.

6. Fill used tuna cans. This I thought interesting. Wash out your old tuna cans and fill them with bacon drippings, beef drippings, etc. When it cools, it will solidify. (You can do this with rendered suet as well.) Drill a hole in the side if the can and hang it.

suet, birding, birdwatching, backyard birding