One of the fastest growing hobbies in America deals with birds. Around 60 million people are finding satisfaction in feeding and watching birds. And gardening is a popular outdoor hobby these days. No wonder these two leisure pursuits go together well. If your garden provides bird feeders, then you get to enjoy these two pastimes. Especially during winters, when birds start to migrate, they depend much on feeders and suet is an excellent choice of bird food.

The availability of food is a major factor on where birds stay. This is also an important element during seasonal changes since some food are not available in a particular period. And in some weather changes, birds need other types of food to sustain them throughout the climate. When fruits are ripe, birds feed on fruits while on insects when fruit source is scarce. For those migrating birds, they eat to help them build fat for their venture. Birds are great opportunists that they eat anything that is available. If you plan to entice birds into your garden, you should be able to provide food for them all year long. During the winters, small birds consume more because their metabolism is fast to help them keep warm, thus they need more supply of food. During this season it is an advantage for you to provide food for them since they find it difficult to search food for themselves due to the cold weather and heavy ice and snow covering the ground.

During the fall and winter, the fat that lines the kidneys and loins of animals such as beef and sheep is an excellent choice of food to offer birds. This is because of the greater calories they need to maintain their body heat and energy levels. You can simply get it from While there are some commercially available, it is best to make it on your own, saving you money and time. Those homemade ones allow you to customize the ingredients to appeal to the types of birds you want to stay in your garden. The advantage of it also is that it is free from preservatives and additives which may be harmful to birds. You can add different mixtures to the suet to make it more pleasant to the birds such as chopped dried fruit bits, unsalted nuts, birdseed, honey or kitchen scraps. Try it out and you will be amazed to witness a number of birds that will come visit your garden for the winter season.

By Grant Toellner

Everyone has heard the phrase “diving into something head first”, but not the Nuthatch!

White-breasted Nuthatch

It’s a way of life! The Nuthatch gets its name from its unusual habit of jamming large nuts into tree bark, then whacking at them with their sharp bill to “hatch” out the seed from the inside. The White-breasted Nuthatch is the largest of all species of Nuthatches in the United States and lives here year round. White-breasted Nuthatch’s have a black-capped head with a grayish-blue color on their back and a snowy while face and belly.

Even though their colors are distinguishable, a Nuthatch’s behavior is what sets them apart. Different from other birds, Nuthatches often turn sideways and upside-down on trees and limbs as they forage for food. Usually, Nuthatches will start at the top of trees and barrel their way head-first down while scavenging for food.

Nuthatches live and primarily can be found around mature woods and woodland edges, usually traveling with their mate. In winter, Nuthatches join foraging flocks led by Chickadees and Titmice as another security source to look out for potential predators. One recent study found that when Titmice were removed from the flock, Nuthatches were more wary and less willing to eat at exposed bird feeders.

A Nuthatch’s main food source is insects like beetles and ants, but they are also regulars at most folk’s backyards. You most likely will spot one snacking on a suet feeder, peanut feeder, or even a regular bird feeder because they also eat sunflower seeds. Some of the feeders I have had luck with and would recommend would be the Songbird Essentials Suet Log and any of the Songbird Essentials Spiral Peanut feeders. These make it easy for them to cling upside-down.

Red Spiral Peanut Feeder Click on Photo

Suet Log Feeder Click on Photo

Green Spiral Peanut Feeder Click On Photo

Silver Spiral Peanut Feeder Click On Photo

Suet Feeder with Tail Prop Click on Photo

Recylced Plastic Hanging Gazebo Feeder Click on Photo

Gingo Teahouse Feeder Click on Photo