If your family is like thousands of others throughout Arkansas, you probably have several bird feeders in your yard. We have many types on our 2 1/2 acres, including thistle feeders, hummingbird feeders, tube feeders, platform feeders, metal feeders and wooden feeders. Suet, sunflower seeds and thistle seeds are the main foods we put out for the woodland birds that usually visit, but over the years, we’ve also come to enjoy preparing specialty bird foods made using recipes that have been shared by family and friends. Cooking up meals for the birds makes our backyard birdwatching even more fun, and right now, near the end of winter when wild food sources are scarce or absent, serving these high-energy treats is important to help our feathered friends survive through the cold days still ahead.
The ingredients you’ll need to prepare these recipes can be found at any supermarket or discount store, and most are relatively inexpensive. When you have them all gathered up, consider inviting a child to help you prepare your special birdie dinners. There’s no better way to create enthusiasm in a beginning birdwatcher.
Here are some of our favorites — ours and the birds’ — to get you started. All can be used throughout the year, not just in winter, to attract birds close to windows and decks where they’re easy to see, photograph and enjoy.
Songbird Medley
After preparing this recipe, you can spread the resulting mixture on tree trunks and branches, or stuff it in pine cones, for a treat that pine warblers, wrens, titmice and other songbirds can’t resist.
Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups ground fresh beef suet
3/4 cup dried and finely ground bakery goods (I prefer whole wheat bread or crackers)
1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds
1/4 cup white proso millet
1/4 cup dried, chopped fruit (currants, raisins or berries)
Directions:
Melt the suet in a large saucepan over low heat, and set aside to cool until slightly thickened. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl; then stir the suet into the mixture. Blend thoroughly.
Thrasher and Mockingbird Treats
Other birds like this special mixture, too, but at our place, the brown thrashers and mockingbirds usually eat it up before others have a chance to try it!
Ingredients:
1 cup lard
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
2 cups quick-cook oats
2 cups corn meal
1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
Directions:
Melt the lard in a large saucepan over low heat, remove from the fire, and add the peanut butter, stirring until well blended. Stir in the remaining ingredients, and cool.
Bluebird Banquet
Your hands will probably get all gooey when you’re whipping up this treat, but bluebirds (and several types of sparrows, too) love it. Small squares of hardwood cloth can be used to hold the mixture so jays don’t carry off the whole batch!
Ingredients:
4 cups corn meal, divided
1/2 cup chopped raisins
1 cup plain flour
1 cup cottonseed meal (available at farm-supply stores)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or other nuts
1 cup applesauce
2 cups melted lard, cooled
Directions:
Put one cup of the corn meal in a food processor with the raisins. Process with a steel blade until the raisins are finely chopped. Transfer to a large bowl, and add the flour, cottonseed meal and chopped nuts. Mix thoroughly until well blended.
Add the applesauce to the mixture, and blend. Continue stirring while you pour in most of the melted lard. At this point, the mixture will probably be very firm, and you’ll have to finish the mixing with your hands, squishing the dough through your fingers. The mixing is done when the dough can be formed into a ball that will stand alone. If the mixture seems a little too dry, add a little more lard. If the mixture seems too greasy, use less lard the next time, or dust on a little flour. Divide the mixture to make 16 balls, place on a cookie sheet, freeze, and store in plastic bags. Defrost in your microwave when ready to use.
Bisquick Birdie Bread
This is a great spring treat because the cuttle bone (like that used for parakeets) and egg shells in this recipe help provide the extra calcium required by nesting female birds.
Ingredients:
4 eggs with shells
3 (6-ounce) jars of baby-food fruit
2 cups Bisquick baking mix
2 cups corn meal
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup dried chopped fruit such as apples or apricots
1 cup unsalted nuts, chopped
1 tablespoon shaved cuttle bone
2 tablespoons unshelled sunflower seeds
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a food processor, blend the eggs and shells until the shells are crushed. Add the baby food, and process a few seconds more.
Mix the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in the egg mixture, and add enough water to make a slightly moist batter. Spread in a 9-by-13-inch baking pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 40 minutes or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pans. Cool, cut into squares, and serve on a platform feeder, on the ground or in a suet feeder. Freeze the remaining cake; then thaw or heat it when ready to use.
Suet Cakes
Insect-eating birds such as wrens and woodpeckers really like this high-energy food, and you can continue feeding it right on through the summer. This variety doesn’t spoil as readily during warm weather as suet mixes made with beef fat.
Ingredients:
1 pound lard
1 (16-ounce) jar crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
6 cups corn meal
5 cups all-purpose flour
Directions:
Melt the lard in a large saucepan over low heat, taking care not to get it too hot. Remove from the heat, and add the peanut butter, stirring until well blended. Next, add the raisins and sunflower seeds, then the corn meal and flour. Blend thoroughly.
Spoon into small square or rectangular containers such as empty containers saved from when commercial suet blends are used, or the bottom cut from a half-gallon milk jug or carton. Freeze the mixture until ready to use.