I’ve seen a lot of posts recently about homemade treats for birdies, and here’s mine. Great activity to do with kids, by the way, and the sheer joy of seeing the birds feasting upon the feeders just makes me all giddy.

Of course, there’s the classic pine cone bird feeder, and it’s a hoot to see the birds dangle upside-down to get to the last of the peanut butter mix from between the ridges. We refilled the pine cones this morning, and the birds are happily at it again. That’s a Redbreasted Nuthatch on the pinecone above.

But if you don’t have pinecones easily available in your area, you can be creative and use other materials. My son found a really cool piece of tree bark (it looked like alligator skin), and I was amazed he agreed to my suggestion to use it as a bird feeder. But he did, and it’s our newest favorite feeder of our many favorite feeders (anything that a bird goes to qualifies for favorite status).

Here’s a Black-Crested Titmouse enjoying the tasty perch.

This is the recipe used on our feeders, tried-true-and-bird-approved.

1 cup peanut butter (chunky is great)
1 cup lard or vegetable shortening or just more peanut butter
2 1/2 cups coarse yellow cornmeal
1 box of raisins, cranberries, cherries, or other dried fruit bits
1 bag of birdseed (black oil sunflowers, safflowers, cracked corn, peanuts, sunflower kernels, striped sunflowers)

Make sure you prep your pine cone or bark ahead of time for how you intend to hang it, be it with wires or ribbons. Simply mix the peanut butter, lard, and cornmeal and smear it on the feeder. Press or roll the seeds and fruits onto the peanut butter mix, then hang up the feeder.

In case you are wondering — the peanut butter mixture is for more than just having something that sticks the seeds on. Birds need fat and protein in the winter, and the mix is perfect for it. Happy birdies!