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.

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You can also make your own suet substitute. Here is the basic recipe we use:

1 cup peanut butter (The cheaper the better. Cheaper peanut butters have higher oil contents.)
1 cup shortening or lard.
1 cup whole wheat flour.
1 cup whole oats
2 cups mixed fruits, nuts and seeds (approximate)

For the fruit mixture, I dice raisins, nuts, coconut, and frozen or dried apple pieces together with some mixed birdseed. Feel free to substitute what you have on hand.

Stir this all together until it is the consistency of a really stiff cookie dough. It should stick together, but not be doughy.

I generally only feed this to our birds in the colder months for fear of spoilage, but the birds seem to really like it. We have attracted: white-breasted nuthatches, red-breasted nuthatches, flickers, red-bellied woodpeckers, red-headed woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers and orioles with this mixture. Sparrows and grackles will eat it as well…and of course the squirrels devour it when they get the chance.

We usually offer this to the birds in our homemade suet feeder.

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Birds need water as much in the winter as they do in the heat of summer. Temperatures may be cooler, but their ability to stay warm is dependent on clean feathers. Since most shallow water freezes, there is almost no water available. Many birds will eat snow to remain hydrated, but this cools their bodies.

There are a variety of bird bath heaters which will keep your bath free of ice. They can be a little expensive to purchase, but are not very expensive to run. I recommend saving and getting one of at least medium quality. A little extra investment now will save you from making a repeat purchase next year. The nicer ones also generally shut off if your bird bath goes dry which is a nice feature to have. The one we purchased was $30.

If that is not in your budget, you can still offer water to your birds. Before we got our heater, I poured fresh, hot water in the bath twice a day. I went out at the same time each morning and afternoon and it did not take long for the birds to learn the schedule. They would gather in the bushes and chatter noisily while I filled the bath and checked to make sure I hadn’t made it too hot before going inside.

If you do not have a bird bath, I posted an entry some time ago about selecting bird baths. Some places may have them on sale currently, but it is not an item that needs to be stored away until Spring! Cleaning your bird bath is also still important.

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It is characterized by red, swollen or puffy eyes which produce mucous. It can also affect the upper respiratory system. Some birds do survive to become healthy again, but since it effects their vision, it seriously compromises their survival. As the disease progresses, they can become blinded. Affected birds will often be found alone at feeders and may remain near them, subsisting off the dropped seed. They may fly into windows, fall prey to cats and other raptors and may even allow you to get very close to them. Do not try to catch them. Unless you have a special license, it is illegal to handle native songbirds.

If you note evidence of house finch eye disease in the finches visiting your feeder and wish to help, you can sign up to contribute to a research study by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. You can also get more detailed information along with photos from their website.

The disease does appear to cause some discomfort since infected birds will often be seen rubbing their eyes on branches or the sides of feeders. This may help spread the disease. To help minimize the risk to your other birds, practice good sanitation measures.

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When Audubon began school, he was perpetually truant, preferring answering the call of the open field rather than his school master. He returned home with his school basket filled with birds’ nests, birds’ eggs, lichens, flowers and pebbles. His father was much pleased with his son’s curiosity and collections…until he found out what work had been neglected to obtain his specimens.

Yet as a child, he began drawing the birds of France, collecting around 200. Disappointed with the products, he went to his father who gave him a book of illustration.

Although the pages were not what I longed for, they gave me a desire to copy Nature. To Nature I went and tried to imitate her. But for many years, I saw that my drawings were worse than the ones I regarded bad in the book.

The worse my drawings were, the more beautiful did the originals appear. To have been torn from the study would have been as death; my time was entirely occupied with art.

In our studies of Audubon, we have three sources:

Capturing Nature, The Writings and Art of John James Audubon, which is an edited selection meant for children.

The Original Water-Color Paintings by John James Audubon for The Birds of America, which is a massive book. My daughter has sat for hours studying the illustrations, amazed at the detail involved in each of the plates.

A nature notebook. Here, she is collecting her own watercolors of the natural world around her. Here is her first painting. It is perhaps not quite as realistic as Audubon’s flicker (above), but it is most definitely a yellow-shafted flicker.

Nurturing a child’s interest for the natural world often takes only the time to express one’s own interest and enthusiasm for the subject. Perhaps it will turn into a life time hobby, a commitment to conservation, or something greater. This can be clearly seen in the childhood of John James Audubon.

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No feeder is immune to this problem. During a recent trip to the Hitchcock Nature Center in Iowa, we found this feeder which had obviously been neglected for a little while at least.

To keep this from happening to your feeders, take a moment to check the condition of the seed every time you set out more seed. Check for evidence of mold or moisture. Moldy seed should be removed immediately. You will also want to sanitize your feeder to prevent it from regrowing on your new seed. Moist seed should be removed and the feeder should be dried thoroughly. We also let our feeders run out of seed every couple of weeks to make sure that all old seed is regularly consumed.

If you have had a feeder out for more than two or three weeks without so much as a sparrow, you may want to check your seed even more closely. Goldfinches are particularly picky about the freshness of their seed. Ours always prefer to pick over the stands of flowers which have gone to seed rather than eat from the feeders, save from the Nyjer feeder. If moisture and mold seem to be a regular problem, you may want to set out less seed to make sure that the birds are able to consume all that you set out on a daily basis.

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Building a Bottle Bird Feeder
by Jacob Deckard age 9

One day my mom took out our wooden bird feeder. I thought I could make one out of a bottle! Here is a good way to make a bird feeder.

1. Gather supplies.

You need:

A plastic bottle with a cap
Sharp scissors or knife
A stick
A rope

2. Our first feeder’s seeds sprouted, because the moisture did not drain, so poke small holes in the bottom of the bottle. Be careful not to cut yourself.

3. About 1-2 inches from the bottom of the bottle, make holes for the perch. Insert stick and make holes bigger, if needed.

4. Cut holes above the perch for the birds to get the seeds. Holes should be slightly bigger than the seeds.

5. Tie teether or rope around the top of the bottle, where the cap is, and tie a loop for hanging.

6. Carefully fill the feeder with sunflower seeds using your hands as a funnel or get a real funnel.

7. Replace cap and hang in a high tree.

8. It may take three weeks for the birds to find it. Be patient.

Happy bird feeding!

–
Visit Life Nurturing Education: http://reflective.homeschooljournal.net

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Millet sprays.

These may be hung in small groupings on a fence, on a door or anywhere else they are visible and accessible to birds. They have the same general visual effect as hanging sheaves of wheat, but more of our native songbirds will seek out millet than wheat. They can also be woven into a wreath. The millet is knocked off the spray pretty easily so one of the best places to make your wreaths is over the ground feeder.

Indian Corn.

This seasonal favorite is also a favorite of squirrels. In fact, I noticed several places where homeowners were complaining about the squirrels eating their Indian corn decorations. This may be a problem if you want to keep it, but can be entertaining for those of us who enjoy our squirrels. In moderation at least. “Squirrel corn” and dried feed corn have a similar effect, although not as visually striking as the multi-colored Indian corn. And woodpeckers and blue jays will enjoy the kernels of all variations as much as your squirrels will.

Nature wreaths.

My mom loves grapevine wreaths and hangs them year round. This time of year, she decorates them with some colored leaves, but the same color could be achieved with dried berries. Other seasonal fruit, such as apples and pears, can also be dried and added to a colorful wreath.

Nature’s harvest.

A basket of collected pine cones, acorns and walnuts set near a step welcomes the season and your neighborhood squirrels. Woodpeckers and other insect eating birds might appreciate a hanging dish of cracked nuts.

Decorative feeders.

If you have a few decorative gourds which you set out every year, they are certainly dried by now. These can be made into a variety of scoops, feeders and bird houses, limited only by your imagination. Cut one in half to make a scoop. Or fill a half with seed and hang as a decorative platform feeder. A small hole will make an attractive birdhouse, although it likely will not be populated until Spring. If you want to begin the process for next year, it should only take one season to dry a small gourd.

Scarecrows.

While using your scarecrow to offer birdseed may seem a little counterproductive, these little fellows rarely have any real job in our yards today. Consider hanging a small bird feeder from his hand. Place some suet on his shoulder and you may get a variety of birds lined up for a photo op.

These are only a few ideas to get you started. Taking a moment to look at your decorations from your birds’ perspective will help you think of different ways to incorporate their favorite foods into your seasonal decorating.

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Two days after hearing rumors that the juncos had arrived, I caught sight of our first junco of the season. My daughter claimed there was one at the bird bath but it was gone before I got there. Twenty minutes later, I startled one by the bath. Hopefully we will soon have small flocks of them gleaning seeds from under the feeders. They are my favorite of our winter visitors, although the red-breasted nuthatch is generating some rivalry for that position!

The house sparrows are beginning to form larger flocks and they are flightier than normal. They fly back and forth between our woodpile, the feeding station and the field behind our house. That is a popular collection spot for a number of different bird species. It is a popular spot for starlings, jays and flickers as well.

The goldfinches have finally found our finch feeder and are returning again. They are now in their winter plumage so gone is the brilliant canary yellow that colored our feeding station all summer. We bought a large finch feeder just for them this winter. Last year, we had flocks numbering over fifty goldfinches fluttering in the bushes and waiting for their turn at our feeder which only seated eight birds. We can now host 16 at a time and I may buy one of those thistle socks once we begin seeing larger numbers of finches.

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The Great Smokey Mountain National Park is unique in that it was carved out of private land. Donations were made so that the federal government could purchase large tracts of land from lumber companies as well as from farmers. Many of the old buildings remain, including the remains of stone chimneys

and a graveyard outside a church.

Because of varying altitudes, soil types, moisture levels and light levels, the Smokes boast an incredible diversity of plant and animal life within a relatively small geographic area, including approximately 200 species of birds. There are also trails throughout the park. Some carry you to interesting features, such as this Laurel Falls which features a 75 foot drop.

As we hiked up to the falls, we received an ominous warning.

My son, who is a little leery of heights, hugged the rocks near the edge of the trail When we reached the falls, my daughter immediately tried to join the other hikers who were trying to climb the falls. My son played quietly in a small pool of water while I had my eye on my eight year old for fear temptation would overtake her and lead her up those rocks. Then, for no apparent reason, my son took off toward the other edge of the falls…and quite a long drop ending on jagged rocks below. He was just running around, oblivious to the imminent danger. Luckily, I am not prone to yelling at my children too much so when I yelled, he froze. We left the falls. That is why we have no other pictures and the falls actually do not look all that impressive. But I had nightmares about them.

There are also a number of “quiet walks” with no particular destination that allow you to take a leisurely walk in the woods to enjoy the peace. I realized that if I am ever to get serious about birding outside my backyard, I really am going to have to learn bird calls. We did not see any birds on any of our hikes. They provided us with a continuous, although somewhat muted, concert throughout our trip. Other than than the rather nasal “twack twack” of the nuthatch, however, I had no idea who the performers were.

We did have to stop to allow a rafter of turkeys to cross. They are kind of ugly birds and I do not know why I like them so much. They remind me of wilderness and the fact that we see them on our way into town always makes me feel like we are further from the city than we really are.

The highlight of our ten days was this fellow. He came out of the woods, paused and crossed. On the other side of the street, he changed his mind and walked back, disappearing back into the woods the way he had come. Just long enough to get the camera out, but not long enough to really focus it.

The late freeze and dry summer has affected this area of the country as well. Early in the year, there were concerns that the acorn crop would fail and that severe shortages in other natural food sources would drive an increased number of birds and even bears into residential areas looking for food. Luckily, estimated damage to the food supply were incorrect and we saw a number of acorns on the ground. There has not been an increased number of bears in residential areas which is good both for humans and for bears. No one wants their property damaged by an overzealous bear. And bears that begin to associate humans with food often end up euthanized.

Just running in a field was the highlight for my two year old. This was taken in a meadow in Cade’s Cove.

The baby spent most of her time in the Snuggli, content to explore the world from the safety of my arms. Here she is at the campground, enjoying the dance of the leaves above her.

We had a wonderful time with a perfect mix of hiking and just lounging about the campground.

birding, birdwatching, vacation, Smokey Mountains