Home made bird food

Try this bird food recipe to attract your feathered friends!

• 3 parts melted fat (suet preferred)
• 1 part cornmeal or finely cracked corn
• 1 part peanut butter or other nut butter
• 1 part sunflower kernels or chopped nuts
• 1 part brown sugar
• 1 part chopped dried fruit (currants, raisins, prunes, etc.)

Combine all of the ingredients with enough water to get the consistency of cooked oatmeal. Cook in double boiler until well blended. Put into small containers like tuna fish cans that can be securely attached to feeders or  a tree

Sound the alarm!

This can is a great chime to spook the dogs away from the gate.
It rattles, when the birds sit on the cans they tip and the bird gets off kilter and fly's off.
Pretty cool way to put the tins to good use.
The cans also protect my face when bending to harvest.
The poles can be a hazard.
Up turned terracotta pot are prettier, but this will do well.

call birds closer

Did You Know?

...that you can call birds closer? For a closer look at some feathered friends, try this trick:

1. Go to a place where you see or hear birds nearby, such as a row of shrubs, a big tree, or a patch of woods.
   
   
2. Make this sound: PSSSH, PSSSH, PSSSH. This is called "pishing." To birds, it sounds like an alarm call, so they get curious about what is going on. Some birds may swoop down to investigate.
   
   
3. If you call a bird close to you, congratulations! Can you identify it? (Check a field guide for help.) And, for extra credit, can you match the bird with a song you’ve been hearing?

Funny thing is I was serious, I did not even think about how funny this was. This is an artical in a outdoors kid friendly blog.