Dark-eyed junco feasting on suet cake.

Adding a suet feeder to a variety of feeders and bird bath in the yard usually works very well if you want to see a few new species up close and personal.

New arrivals in our yard include pine siskins, downy woodpecker, the pileated woodpecker, and the red-breasted nuthatch, but even the seed eaters got into the action once the suet feeders were hung. Dark-eyed juncos, spotted towhees, song sparrows, and fox sparrows have all been taking advantage of the suet. The scientific literature suggests that suet may also attract wrens, warblers, and brown creepers. As we know, however, among the most avid suet eaters are the woodpeckers, chickadees and nuthatches. The spotted towhee loves to cling to the top of the suet holder so it can dig in. Small bits inevitably fall on the deck and become treats for the juncos, sparrows and the Steller’s jays. The jays also take a turn on the suet cage, and send crumbs of suet cake to the deck for their other winter bird friends.

Suet these days is different than that of old. It is less messy and purports not to melt. Of course it is a commercial product, unlike the suet we can still get from the local butcher if we ask for it. The varieties or flavors are endless, peanut butter, fruit, sunflower suet, mixed seed suet and suet filled with “bugs!” Meal worms and insects mixed in with suet, add protein to a wild bird menu. Suet is essentially beef fat. It is easily digested and metabolized by most birds. It is a high-energy food, which is especially important in cold weather. Meal worms and insects added in are the piece de résistance for the birds! You can, of course, make your own suet. There are many recipes on line. Making one’s own suet may not always be the least expensive route to go unless you get some fat trimmings from the butcher and just hang it as is. You can put it in a mesh bag like the kind onions come in or in a suet cage. These days, suet and suet cages are two of the inexpensive items that many stores often offer. Serving bird friendly buffets appeals to many these days.

If you keep records of the birds that visit your yard and feeders, it would be interesting to see whether adding suet to the menu brings in new species and which ones they are. If you haven’t already, give it a try. Good and nourishing food means more birds!

”Common Birds of the Long Beach Peninsula,” by Kalbach and Stauffer is available from the Chinook Observer, Bay Avenue Gallery, Time Enough Books and the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau.