One thing I loved about growing up in the country was sitting in my parents' big kitchen picture window and watching the birds, and other woodland creatures, come to feed. While I don't have as wide a variety of birds that flock to my yard in the city, I still put out a little feeder to attract a few feathered friends.
As the first snowstorms hit, I wondered what would happen if I hollowed out fruit to create little mini suet feeders -- to give the birds more variety, if you will. The fruit would add colour to a white winter landscape and eventually biodegrade over the winter leaving nothing but a little piece of string with which the birds could make a nest. And I guess if they were really hungry, the birds could peck away at the fruit, too, depending on what was used.
In order to stick to our 100-mile diet, I opted for a locally grown squash. This project is fairly simple and requires very little tools.
Feeder materials
Directions:
Other options
For my first two feeders, I chose a coconut and a pomegranate. I'll admit both were pretty hard to work with. The coconut required a hammer, some strong drill bits and two extra people, but on the bright side, can be refilled over and over again. And the pomegranate, well, let's just say I had red juice all over my kitchen. Pomegranates are hard to get into on a good day, but try preserving a perfect exterior.Other fruits will work as well:
The main ingredient: suet
Now it's time to whip up the suet. After doing a bit of research, I came up with this recipe that the birds seem to enjoy.
Ingredients
Directions
If the animals in your yard haven't eaten it or carried it away when it's empty, you can either refill your feeder or send it to the compost.
Happy bird-watching! Wondering where to hang that bird feeder? Read more at Feeding Birds in Winter.
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Comments
You might want to use a thin wire rather than string... don't know about you but the squirrels in my area have learned to chew through string!
I guess it's a lot easier for them to devour the contents of the feeder on the ground rather than hanging suspended from the tree or balanced on top of it.
My 2¢.
Al
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