Bird Feeding and Story for Christmas by Phil Taunton

I like to make bird feeders and give them as Christmas gifts. I’m a believer in “it’s not the cost of something that counts but the meaning for which it was given.” Some people say I’m just cheap!

Bird feeders can easily be made by boring holes in coconuts or gourds. Diameters from 5/8 inch up to 2 ½ inches can be cut with a little hand drill attachment called a hole saw. I gave such a coconut feeder to my mother-in-law one Christmas. Maybe that’s where the cheap label came from! This type of feeder can be filled with a prepared “suet” mix or any kind of bird seed that fits your fancy. Irma put black oil sunflower seed in hers and hung it out. The next morning she was aghast to find a squirrel apparently stuck through the middle of the coconut feeder. It lay so still, draped on each side of the coconut, she thought it was a goner but was relieved to see it raise up, reach back under its belly, and grab another handful of seeds. It munched on the seeds and resumed “playing opossum” practically all morning. The squirrel fared a lot better than the chickadees did that got stuck in “Tanglefoot.” She had smeared this sticky, gooey substance on another feeder’s pole in an effort to keep the squirrels away from the bird seed. She must have got confused with the advice I gave her on how to deter ants from her hummingbird feeders. I have yet to call her a murderer-----Well, maybe once over the phone!

One summer I did a story about the big black rat snake Dorothy and Galen Milsap caught coming out of their bluebird box. The Milsap’s feed birds the year around and I noticed a simple feeder in their yard that’s easy to make. Use your hole saw and bore holes in a section of dead tree limb or in a 2x2 inch board about 20 inches long. Make these holes several inches apart and about ½ inch deep. Clean the holes out and pack them with suet. Put an eye screw in one end of the feeder, connect a cord and tie it to a tree branch. Presto, you have a suet feeder that serves a wide variety of birds, especially woodpeckers and nuthatch.

Here is a mixture you might want to try in such a feeder. Use the coffee can, not a fudge pan or some husbands might think you’re making them a treat. It’s been known to happen! A hungry man, especially one that doesn’t get cooked for very often, will eat just about anything-even mincemeat pie.

Dorothy’s suet mixture

1 pound lard or melted grease

1 pound peanut butter

3 C. Oatmeal

2 C. Corn meal

1 C. Flour (whole wheat preferred)

Mix in 3-pound coffee can on low burner and stir to mix thoroughly. Too much flour will make it crumble. Keep refrigerated.