The literal translation is, “tits bulbs”. Well, I think of suet balls more as balls, to me a bulb is something you plant in the ground and then wait for spring...or together with two others screw it into a socket While the other two walk the ladder around in a circle until the bulb won’t go in any further. I have been waiting for the weather to get cold enough to make my annual load of suet balls, or at least the first load. It is a very messy job. I mould the balls and my Bride periodically scrapes my fingers off with a butter knife. You can imagine the comments that I got from the peanut gallery. Well, I popped them into the fridge and will take them with me the next time I head out to the lottie. I will place them in little silo’s. Those little creatures will love them. I always put in a mixture of various ingredients hopefully to attract more than tits. Do you guys do this?
I used to make a similar mess for the birds with lard and seeds, nuts, scraps. Trouble was they usually fell to pieces, so I pushed the mix into coconut shells, and it seemed to last a bit longer as they can be hung up at a sensible angle These days I get them ready made in tubs from Wilko - much easier!
Yeah, I have used coconut shells as well, also pine cones stuffed with peanut-butter and sunflower seeds.
We purchase suet cakes, the kind that doesn't melt. Even in winter we can get warmer days when regular suet cakes would drip on the ground. I did a nature program with a Girl Scout troop once, putting peanut butter on pine cones which they were to take home and hang for the birds. I think it took me two days to get all the peanut butter off the patio and benches, and to field the calls from irate parents trying to get peanut butter out of their daughters' hair! Sjoerd, you are a brave man.
Why yes, I have a chest full of bravery medals from the military days. Haha. Well, my pine cones are secured upright so that the stuffings do not fall out of them. But anyway, they are in the woody part of the lottie, so no mess there. I can see that you had to take some flack. Too bad ‘cause your heart was in the right place. Djyuh know wot though—I had to laugh at your story. Naughty, right?
We buy a huge supply of suet balls, peanuts, hazelnuts, and sunflower seeds late autumn. It usually lasts through winter. This year we bought extra because of transport chaos and maybe not being able to replenish stock if we run out. Our nearest neighbours don't feed the birds, so we feed them a wide variety to make up for the ********* neighbours.
Droopy, we too stocked up on bird supplies. We have 32 lbs. of bird seed, eight suet cakes, and enough sunflower seed to seed the pasture! Have you ever heard a bird burp? We are the only ones around here that feed the birds, and frankly, I'm glad. One neighbor is so tight that he would feed them cheap ground-up deer corn, and another neighbor is so dumb that he'd give them tortillas. The birds are better off with thee and me.
A friend of mine loves all sorts of birds, and would scatter out bits of old bread in their front yard. The neighbor across the street started to complain that her dog would eat some of this bread while on a walk and would choke at times. She asked him not to feed the crows that he always enjoyed watching. He ignored her, and thought she should stick to her side of the street. He caught her snapping photos of him putting out bread, and one day there was a police officer at his door. The officer thought it was over-kill, but told him that feeding wild birds in California was technically not legal. How could that be he said, they sell bird seed in the stores. So, in the long run he stopped, not wanting to carry on the fuss. Who knew?
Although some of us have a better idea of how and when to feed the birds, there can be dangers for them as I found out with one particular over obsessed woman who used to reside on my camping site. She unwittingly (but would not be told) caused the death of many little feathered friends, and disease in many more. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blo...risks-heres-how-to-minimize-unintended-harms/ The link will maybe explain a little. In the UK we have similar warnings about this subject from the RSPB
Good article, Tetters. Our bird protection organisation also began with informing us several years ago. I believe it all began with the bird flu and then branched out from there. We have taken measures in the lottie— I now feed 2/3rds less and clean the bird baths regularly. The information and suggestions are worth listening to. My bird population is smaller now and the variety is less, but I am oké with that.
Good article, Tetters! We participate in FeederWatch with Cornell U. and have for several years. Watching the birds come and go is a great pleasure. We don't have wandering neighborhood cats, and our cats are Quakers and are not interested in catching anything but a nap.
Our bird feeders etc routinely go through the dish washer. I guess your cats are also well fed MG, and so don't even consider bothering the birds