Birds Need Some Love Too

Yay! Another addition of Works for Me Weds! I have to tell you, here in Stepford we were hammered with yet ANOTHER snowstorm. What was supposed to be about 5-8 inches of fluffy whiteness actually ended up being more than a foot of soggy, power outage-making, cold wetness. Ick.

This weather isn't just hard on people, it's hard on wildlife too. That's why I've decided to devote this WFMW to taking care of our outdoor feathered friends. :)

Here are a couple of tips, tricks, and recipes I like to use to keep my birdies happy and healthy (and coming back for more). Both of these are wonderful to do with the chickies in your household... :)

First up:

Cornbread Cake

2 Packages of cornbread mix
Eggs as per the mix, plus one
Apple juice
1/2 cup cracked corn
1/2 cup frozen berries
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/8 cup raisins
1/4 cup thistle seed
1/4 cup millet

Directions

Mix the cornbread mix with eggs as per package instructions, substituting apple juice for the milk. Add corn, berries, sunflower seeds, and raisins, stirring until blended.

Pour into greased pan and sprinkle with thistle and millet seeds. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. When cool, cut up and add to outdoor feeders, place on trees, or even on the ground.

Did you know you can also make your own seed bells?

Seed Bell

8 inches of picture wire
1 cup mixed seeds (just the basic kind you find at any store)
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
3 inch terra-cotta flower pot
1 oven bag or aluminum foil

Take the picture wire and, using your index finger, wrap a nice sized loop into the wire, tying it securely. Make periodic loops through the 8 inches of wire, fairly close together... This will help to keep the seed bell hanging on the wire.

In a bowl, mix together the egg whites and seeds, until the seeds are completely coated. Then, line the inside of the flower pot with the aluminum foil, making sure that the aluminum foil comes over the edge and outside of the pot (so you can pull it out!). Pour the seed mixture into the pot. Pole the wire through the mixture and through the dranage hole of the pot, pulling the first loop you made all the way through to the bottom of the flower pot.

Bake mixture for 1 1/2 hours at 200 degrees. When done, let cool and then pull the bell free of the pot by yanking on the foil. Seperate the foil from the bell (do it outside so seeds that fall out fall outside), and hang.

You can also make a very simple suet, that your birds will LOVE, by mixing equal parts of shortening, peanut butter, and seeds together, and putting the mixture in old onion bags and hanging from trees. This is a favorite of woodpeckers far and wide. Or, you can melt the mixture in a saucepan, pour it on the bottom of an aluminum pie tin, freeze it, and then (when frozen) hang the pie-tin outside. Have an old muffin tray? Fill it with the melted suet mix, freeze, and then before hanging outside, stick posicle sticks in each of the little suet muffins to make a nice perch for them to eat on.

I like to have a little fun with the seeds I have by sprinkling them on the white snow in patterns, shapes, and designs. It makes it pleasing to the eyes, and pleasing to birdy tummies. Earlier, I used cracked corn, sunflower seed, and seed mix to create a lovely sand beach with sun shining overhead. Ah, wishful thinking. :)

One thing to remember about making food, or leaving food, for our feathered friends this time of year is that these birdies need a lot of fat to make it through the winter. Throwing out bread slices, bagels, and the like will of course be eaten, but it fills their tummies without giving them the proper nutrients they need, and in the end doing more harm than good. To make it better for them, crumble it and mix it with high-fat things like lard and peanut butter, or adding lots and lots of seeds.

These are such fun little crafts to do, even if you don't have little ones in the house. And there's such a great feeling of satisfaction when you look outdoors in the field of white to see the occasional smattering of color that comes with the birds eating your tasty treats. :)