| Issue #33, November 10, 2006 |
Feed The Beasts
Everyone knows that it is necessary to be more vigilant of your pets in the winter time, but did you know that wild animals also benefit from a little bit of care this time of year? If you love watching the birds fly outside your windows and the deer bounding through your yard, why not make them some delicious treats that will keep them coming to your house no matter how blustery it gets?
Since filling up bird feeders with seed is an everyday chore, suet and peanut butter mixtures are easier bird feeding options; they last longer and they even have more nutrition in them for your feathered friends than bird seed.
To make peanut butter trail mix suet, first melt three cups of store-bought suet or shortening (like Crisco) in a pan. Then, mix in two cups of peanut butter and add raisins, dried berries, nuts, seeds, and cornmeal.
After the suet is cool, it’s time to get creative. If you have some empty plastic nets, like the nets that oranges are packed in, you can freeze the suet into balls, and then hang one of the plastic nets from a tree and put a frozen ball or two of suet-mix in it. Save the other suet balls in the freezer for refills. The nets will not only make hanging the suet a snap, they also give the birds something to hold on to while they enjoy their meal.
Another way to feed suet is to smear it all over a pinecone when the suet it is still warm. Then, freeze the pinecone and hang it from a string or ribbon outside. These pinecone feeders are festive looking, and are a nice resting place for smaller songbirds. If you have trees with knots and holes in them, you can also stuff warm suet into these natural birdfeeders. An added bonus of feeding suet from live trees is that the melted suet attracts insects to the holes in all seasons, providing even more delicious treats for your feathered neighbors.
If you want to decorate an outdoor tree for the holidays, you can freeze suet-mix into any shape by rolling the cooled mixture onto waxed paper and cutting it into shapes using cookie cutters. Poke a hole in each shape with a chopstick, pop them in the freezer, and attach the frozen ornaments to the tree using twist-ties, wire, string, or ribbons. The birds will love them, and your tree will be decorated all winter long with homemade ornaments, and brightly colored, live ornaments, too!
If making suet sounds like too much work, you can always buy bunches of dried corn from farm stands or grocery stores, and hang them up for the birds to eat. Just make sure that they are not treated with wax or any other substance that enhances their sheen. Squirrels and deer like these too, so try putting some on your fences or other squirrel and deer-friendly places.
Squirrels also love nuts and seeds, and a fun way to keep the squirrels out of your bird feeders and watch them play, is to hang a basket from a tree with a rope, and fill the basket with peanuts, or any other kind of nuts or seeds. Another great treat for both birds and squirrels is the eat-in feeder; just clean out the largest Mason jar you can find, and suspend it from a tree with wire. Half-fill the jar with seeds or nuts, and wait for the birds and squirrels to figure out that they can sit inside the windproof jar while they snack. Nuts and seeds in their shells are more natural for squirrels to eat, and will last longer in your basket, since they will have to work to get them out.
As you can see by the increasing numbers of skin-and-bones deer in the Hamptons, local deer have a hard time finding enough nutritious food to get them through the winter. You can help them get the minerals they need by putting out a saltlick or salt block for them. Just set the block on a stump, or if you buy one with a hole in it, hang it from your fence; deer will come by all winter long to lick and play with it. Don’t put out hay or grain for deer, unless you intend to feed them every day; they will get used to being fed and will start to expect their meal daily, whether you want to go out into the snow to feed them or not.
You can buy saltlicks, suet, seeds, and anything else you need to make treats for your backyard buddies at most hardware or farm supply stores, like Agway. If you use Crisco or another type of shortening instead of suet dough to hold your bird treats together, you can find all of the ingredients you need to make bird food at the grocery store. Even if you spend more time inside your house than outside now that it is getting chilly, you can enjoy the beauty of nature all winter long by leaving out little treats to make sure that animals in your neighborhood know that if they want to eat the good stuff, they’ve got to come to you.
–Sabrina C. Mashburn
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