Gardening is a collaborative endeavor. I rely on pollinators for some of my food crops and birds and wasps for pest control. I especially appreciate the wrens who check my open greenhouse every day in spring and summer for pests. Through the Merlin app (free), I can record and identify what my helpers are from their songs and conversations.
I was fortunate to observe bird banding several times when the Hummer/Bird Study Group set up at Fort Morgan State Historic Site near Gulf Shores, Alabama. The group set up nets in the woods to trap migratory birds. Several times an hour, they would check the nets, bring back the birds, weigh them, check for body fat, band the birds and set them free. That point on the Gulf of Mexico was where many migratory birds left the US heading for Central and South America. Birds entered into their computer one day would often show up the next day as being caught and recorded in Honduras or Ecuador.
The group centered around its founders, Martha and Bob Sargent, master bird banders. They were a retired couple who took up bird banding specializing in hummingbirds. They were instrumental in researching late-migrating “winter” hummingbirds (leave the feeders out; some are just late migrators) and Bob wrote the book on leucistic (lacking pigment) hummers. Martha’s cookbook contained a recipe for suet feeders.
Following is a variation of this recipe that I have used for years to reward my “pest patrol”.
2 cups peanut butter. I often use chunky. I get peanut butter with sugar, not artificial sweetener. Here is the opportunity to get the cheap stuff. (I like the expensive stuff for my own use.)
2 cups lard. If this is hard to find, ask who had real, homemade tamales for Christmas and find where the cook shops. You can use shortening instead but avoid that with palm oil.
2 cups quick cooking oats
2 cups cornmeal
1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
You can also add several cups of bird seed, raisins, or dried mealworms.
I spoon the peanut butter and then lard into a glass measuring cup and microwave to semi-liquify. Then I mix with the dry ingredients. Use a glass bowl, so if it cools and stiffens up, you can microwave again to finish stirring.
Use Ziplock square 20 oz, 2.5 cup storage containers. They have hips, so stacked empties don’t stick together. Fill up to the hip (about 1.5 cups) and put in the freezer to store. These containers make square suet cakes that perfectly fit the wire cages for suet.
These work best in cold weather. In warmer winters, check the suet cakes often. Discard if there is mold.
If you visit Gulf Shores, the Birding Coalition of the Americas now bands at Fort Morgan. It is an education to watch them.
by Marj McClung, ECMG