Suet is mainly used to attract Woodpeckers, but a wide assortment of other birds love it too, including Chickadees, Titmice, Carolina Wrens, and Nuthatches. I've even had Cardinals eating suet in my backyard in the winter. Suet is fat from the area around a cow's kidney. If you go to your butcher, you might be able to get some for free. Be aware though that you can't put pure suet out in the summer unless you render it, because it will melt, and get rancid very quickly. To render beef suet, you have to heat it until it melts, and skim off the clear liquid fat. You might have to do this a couple of times to get it really clear, and it does give off a strong odor, so have the windows open. I personally have never used pure beef suet, probably because I'm too lazy to go to the trouble of rendering it. I use the store bought kind that has already been rendered for you, formed into a "cake", and is usually mixed with seed, or nuts. These "cakes" fit very neatly into inexpensive store bought suet "baskets". There is a vast variety of store bought suet "cakes" to choose from, but try to pick out the ones with top quality ingredients, such as sunflower hearts, peanuts, or other types of nuts. Just as in mixed seed, many manufacturer's put in "filler" seeds which is just a waste of money on your part.
Suet is a definite "must" for any backyard feeding station, as it will bring in all kinds of woodpeckers, and even sapsuckers, that don't normally eat seed from the feeders. |
